"lion" +/- "-s"

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:00 AM -0400 10/27/08, Charles Doyle wrote:
>Any of my listmates who watched "60 Minutes" last night will have
>noticed that Scott Pelley, in his segment on Mozambique, employed a
>zero-plural for 'lions' (consistently, and several times)--or,
>rather, he regarded "lion" as a mass noun ("the reintroduction of
>lion into the ecosystem"). The individual he was featuring (an
>American) likewise referred to groups (or masses) as "hippo,"
>"hyena," and "zebra."
>
>Of course, there's the zero-plural of "deer," by way of analogy,
>along with optional "elk" and "buffalo."

and "moose", as well as some non-wild animals ("sheep" being the
locus classicus)

>  But is there a gereral tendency to do that with (wild) animal names?
>
>--Charlie
>____________________________________________________________
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org