A new phenomenon?

[James C Stalker]

I suspect that it will be a brief phenomenon.  My guess is that the trail
blazed by memorandum will be the path to follow: memorandum; memoranda:
memorandums/memorandas: fugidaboudit: memos.  So: phenomenon/phenomena:
phenoms.  Google gives 40,900 hits for phenoms.  I'm still lamenting the
loss of fewer which has been replaced by less.  Phenoms is not reall English
anyway.  This usage stuff is all Greek to me.

Jim Stalker


Jonathan Lighter writes:

> Sorry that the madness overtook the method.  Google up "phenomenas" and find 11,300 on the Web alone.
>
> How long will science ignore this phenomena?  It's feasible that our ancestors will laugh.
>
> JL
>
> "Peter A. McGraw" <pmcgraw at LINFIELD.EDU> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Peter A. McGraw"
>
> Subject: Re: A new phenomenon?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --On Sunday, February 20, 2005 1:53 PM -0800 Jonathan Lighter
> wrote:
>
>> A quick check of Usenet news groups reveals 1,100 exx. of "these
>> phenomenon," 124 for "many phenomenon," and 29 for "number of phenomenon."
>>
>> There are 5,020 for "phenomenons."
>
> "Phenomenons" and not "phenomenas"?! That's an astounding phenomena!
>
> Peter Mc.
>
> *****************************************************************
> Peter A. McGraw Linfield College McMinnville, Oregon
> ******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************
>
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James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University