"A pair of binoculars" - is this two binoculars or just one _binocular_?
No, that would be "a couple of pairs of binoculars". I am personally
holding out for "multiple binoculi".
;-)
On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 2:19 PM, Igor Roshchin <s...@komkon.org> wrote:
>
>
> "A pair of binoculars" - is this two binoculars or just one _binocular_?
> ;-)
>
>
> My ears/eyes are irritated even when people use "pair of ..." with the
> nouns which are usually not used in a singular form (at least in the
> contemporary language), such as "pants" ("pantaloons"), "trousers",
> "shorts", etc, while talking about a single object.
> At least, in that situation, it is based on the "etymology" of the
> object itself, as AFAIK, first, pants were not sewed together.[*]
> ... And that usage is considered acceptable.
>
>
> But one optical device in question is called a binocular, not binoculars!
> (Binocular is a pair of monoculars or telescopes.)
>
> So, people who own just one binocular [#] and talk about
> _their_ "pair of binoculars" are half-similar to me bragging about
> _my_ "pair of 645D's" (as I have none).
> :-)
>
>
> ------
> [*] I spent some time investigating this question, and found that this
> usage and word etymology is very similar in many languages from the
> Indo-European family, including English, French, Russian and several
> other slavic languages. And, in particular, it extrapolated on the
> objects that never had separate parts, such as "shorts" (aka "short
> pants").
>
> [#] Unlike e.g. Bob S. who owns two binoculars.
>
>
> Igor
>
> PS. This reminded me of a question I wanted to ask some time ago.
> Question for Italian speakers (Dario?): I wonder if "pair of 'pantaloni'"
> ("accoppiamento dei pantaloni"[?] - or whatever it is) is a common
> expression in Italian?
>
>
> --
> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
> PDML@pdml.net
> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
> the directions.
>
--
Steve Desjardins
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
PDML@pdml.net
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
