Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?

[Chris F Waigl]

Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
> On Jul 30, 2007, at 5:33 PM, Chris Waigl wrote:
>
>
>> ... I don't think during my youth I ever went to a
>> household with children that didn't contain at least some Lego, and
>> back
>> then they were gender neutral.
>>
>
> here, "Lego" is clearly plural -- a zero plural.  as in some other
> examples you can google up:
>
> [snip]
> .....
>
> meanwhile, the occurrences of "this Lego is" seem to mostly have
> "Lego" 'Lego construction'.
>
> This Lego is the last of my personal collection and has been
> displayed in a smoke free home. The Lego is currently assembled as
> shown; the instructions are ...
> cgi.ebay.com/STAR-WARS-LEGO-10143-DEATH-STAR-
> II_W0QQitemZ200134811291QQihZ010QQcategoryZ19009QQcmdZViewItem
>
> though there are some with "Lego" 'Lego set':
>
> It is important to note this lego is second hand (hence the price!).
> This means the piece(s) you recieve will be in used condition. ...
> cgi.ebay.com.au/BLACK-FLAT-PLATES-4x4-9pcs-
> lego_W0QQitemZ6011279697QQihZ009QQcategoryZ19003QQcmdZViewItem
>
> these might well be (sg) count nouns.
>
> and recally that the company wants "Lego" to be used *only* "as an
> adjective" -- that is, as a bare-N modifier in N-N compounds like
> "Lego brick", "Lego piece", etc.
>

Actually ... it's pretty late here, and this debate has me thoroughly
confused as to what I should have been using, so I put in "some Lego"
deliberately, feeling it was ever so slightly wrong, myself.

This was not a bait, but more like a nod to the discussion, and to
German at the same time -- and meant not as a mass noun singular,
really, but a brand-name singular, as in "play with Playmobil", "play
with Barbie", "play with Fischertechnik". In German, you can say "Du
spielst noch mit Lego? In deinem Alter?", but the stuff itself would be
referred to as "Legosteine". Definitely not "Bricks" even though "Brick"
is a loan word.

Chris Waigl

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