[Ads-l] Scissors

[Baker, John]

A scissor? I do not recall having heard that. I can only say a pair of scissors or, in reference to a particular pair, the scissors.

I do hear singular “pant” more and more, which sounds almost equally odd to me. To my surprise, the American Heritage Dictionary actually treats the singular form as the default, with the following usage note:

Usage Note: You can refer to a single garment either as "pants" or as "a pair of pants." The same holds true not only for other similar garments such as shorts or trousers, but also for other single items that consist of two connected parts, such as glasses or scissors. With pants, the "pair" alludes to the fact that there are two openings for the legs. The use of the singular pant is largely confined to the fields of design, textiles, and fashion: The stylist recommended that the model wear a pant with a checkered print. Pant is also commonly used as the attributive form: pant leg, pant cuff, pant pocket.

John Baker


On Jul 23, 2023, at 4:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:


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I usually say "scissors," but I know I also say "scissor," and I believe I
always have.

JL

On Sun, Jul 23, 2023 at 4:24 PM David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com> wrote:

> A friend of mine insists that "a lot" of people in the US (he is Irish) say
> scissor rather than scissors. I - growing up in So California and having
> family from the Midwest and friends pretty much from all over - have never
> heard anything but scissors. He spent several years in Chicago and I'm
> wondering if maybe it's a regionalism. (?) M-W does list scissor as a
> synonym of scissors, but in its own entry. The "scissors" entry says
> nothing
> about "scissor" being a variant. Does anyone have any information on this?
> DAD
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>


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