Sum: 'die, dice'

[Larry Trask]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
A few days ago I posted a query about the singular form of 'dice'.  I
received responses from twenty people reporting on their local usage, plus
supplementary comments from five more.  Most of the responses came from
various places in the USA and in Australia, with a scattering from Canada,
England, Wales, Scotland, and South Africa.  Not all the respondents
described themselves as youthful.

All respondents report that singular 'dice' is now prevalent in their area.
Some respondents still use singular 'die' themselves, while others use only
'dice', and one or two were unaware that there *was* a singular 'die' -- at
least in current use.  A couple of people reported that singular 'dice' was
virtually universal in the areas in which they grew up several decades ago.
One person reported that, when he was growing up in England, singular 'die'
was at least known to adults but was wholly unknown to children.  A couple
of people noted that, for them, it was highly unusual to encounter any form
of the word anywhere except after 'the', and that either 'a die' or 'a
dice' was odd.  Two people were unaware that the expression 'the die is
cast' had anything to do with dice, and they associated it rather with the
casting of metal dies.  Most interesting.  I am tempted to launch into a
tirade about how, in my day, we had to read Julius Caesar in the original
in high school, but I'll refrain. ;-)

Incidentally, nobody commented on the (possibly British) expression 'as
straight as a die' (= 'perfectly honest'), which the dictionaries assure me
also derives from dice, and not from metal-casting.

The status of singular 'die' varies according to region.  There were three
groups of replies, with the second predominating slightly.

  * Singular 'die' is a less usual but perfectly acceptable alternative to
singular 'dice'.

  * Singular 'die' is known, but it is highly marked: it is elevated; it is
a mysterious form learned in school; it is fussy; it is pretentious; it is
a form learned only through studying English grammar or linguistics
professionally.

  * Singular 'die' is wholly unknown.

One respondent observed that singular 'die' was still the preferred form
among educated speakers in southern Scotland several decades ago.  Another
reported that singular 'die' was usual among game-players in Brooklyn
several decades ago, but suspected that this resulted from the consistent
use of 'die' in the rules to American games.  And one reported that
singular 'dice' was used but clearly stigmatized in New York City in the
1950s.

And, of course, two Australian respondents reported that 'die' was -- or
formerly had been -- the *plural* of 'dice' in their circles, a use which
astonished the other Australians as much as it does me.  Wow.

Some history.  OED 2 tells me that singular 'die' is recorded from 1393,
while plural 'dice' is recorded from 1330.  It also says that singular
'dice' is recorded from 1425, though the earlier existence of this may be
inferred from a plural 'dices', recorded from 1388 but apparently long
obsolete.  This early singular 'dice' is presumably the source of the Welsh
singular <dis> reported by one respondent, with a regular Welsh plural
<disiau> (and a striking hapax singulative <disyn>!), and it is presumably
also the source of the verb 'dice' and of the adjective 'dicey'.

I've just consulted an arbitrary collection of British and American
dictionaries, and what I found surprised me.  Every single dictionary
published before 1990 gave the singular as 'die' exclusively, and declined
to recognize a singular 'dice'.  But dictionaries published since 1990 are
more complicated.

Every British dictionary of the last ten years gives 'dice' as the ordinary
singular.  Usually 'die' is admitted as a rare alternative -- one
dictionary labels it "American or old" -- but one recent British dictionary
declines to mention 'die' at all.

Nevertheless, every American dictionary I managed to consult from the last
ten years insisted on singular 'die' and refused to recognize singular
'dice'.  (I'm counting Encarta as non-American here; it follows British
usage on this point, but it describes itself as an international
dictionary.)  The testimony from my American respondents suggests strongly
that the lexicographers are dozing here.  In fact, though, one respondent
tells me that Merriam-Webster's New Collegiate recognizes singular 'dice',
but I haven't been able to check this dictionary.

All current British usage handbooks firmly recommend singular 'dice'.
Unfortunately, I don't have ready access to non-British handbooks, so I
don't know what they say.  But one respondent pointed out that Fowler's
famous handbook provides no entry for 'die, dice', suggesting that the
matter was not seen as an issue in his day.

On the supplementary reports, a couple of respondents drew attention to
British 'pence'.  When I first arrived in Britain 31 years ago, the old LSD
currency was still in use, and at that time the singular was 'penny', while
'pence' was strictly plural, and people spoke unfailingly of 'a sixpenny
piece'.  But, since the switch to decimal currency, this has changed
dramatically.  Today 'pence' is invariable for most speakers, and we hear
only 'one pence' and 'a one-pence piece'.  When I go to the bank to get
change, and I ask for "some twenty-penny pieces", I get only a blank stare,
and I must ask for "some twenty-pence pieces" if I want to get any coins.
This change has happened in a generation -- far faster than the case of
'dice'.

So, as I feared, my English turns out to be fossilized in yet another
respect.  But I can't tell you young whippersnappers how awful that "a
dice" sounds to an old fart like me: it's right up there with "this
phenomena" and "another criteria", things which I see constantly in my
students' written work. ;-)

Anyway, I have just written a handbook of English usage, which will be out
shortly, and I'm afraid I am now doomed to recommend singular 'die' for
anyone other than a Brit writing for a British readership.  Sigh.  Guess I
should title the thing 'English Usage for Tedious Old Farts'.  Oh, well, it
could be worse.  Apropos of nothing much, I'd like to quote the entry for
'die, dice' in another handbook of English usage published in Britain last
year.  It is extraordinary in several respects.  ('Ludo' is the British
name of parcheesi.)

  dice, die: Although 'die' is the correct singular for the plural 'dice'
('the die is cast'), nobody in their right minds today would say to his
fellow Ludo player, "Hey, Bill, hurry up and throw that die!"

([sic] all the way through)

I hope I have done a little better than this.

My thanks to Elena Bashir, Barry Blake, John Bowden, Claire Bowern, Bobby
Bryant, Ross Clark, Richard Coates, Alan Dench, David Fertig, John Hewson,
John Hines, Paul Hopper, Dorine Houston, Martin Huld, Mark Jones, Christian
Kay, Roger Lass, Steve Long, Geoffrey Nathan, Robert Orr, Margaret Sharpe,
Benjamin Slade, Cecil Ward, Gordon Whittaker, and Roger Wright.

P.S. Plaintive moan: is there anybody else out there who still pronounces
'harass' to rhyme with 'embarrass'?


Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad)