[Lexicog] Digest Number 405

[Simon Wickham-Smith]

>  The British "quid" seems to be
> used in the singular nowadays to my knowledge: 15 quid.

yes, generally so, Fritz, but the Brits also use the phrase "quids  
in", meaning "in the money" or "flush".  I can't think of any other  
usage of the plural form.

Another interesting bunch from the singular/plural standpoint is
diseases.

But I wonder whether the disease plurals are not perhaps false  
plurals.  I've got diabetes, but a diabete would be some kind of  
jokey usage (which of course, thinking about it, doesn't at all  
invalidate it).  Although words like pox and mumps and measles are AS  
in origin, maybe some kind of Graeco medicinal influence has crept in.

I noticed it on a sign saying "Tucson Tire Sales", where the plural  
form indicates a
place where something is sold. Also, more abstractly, it can be used
as a field of work, as in "John is in accounting, Jim is in sales."

This is simply metonymy, I think, substituting the specific area of  
work for the entire job or workplace.

Simon Wickham-Smith
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