LL-L "Grammar" 2007.09.11 (07) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  11 September 2007 - Volume 07
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Danette & John Howland <dan_how at msn.com>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2007.09.06 (02) [E]

(Quote)   In Scots a staircase is referred to as the "stair", eg "up the
stair",
"doun the stair" for upstairs and downstairs, it's long-established
usage. I don't know whether that would influence American idiom or not.

This reminds me of a rather morbid rime--I refuse to spell it "rhyme"--about
the infamous "resurrectionists" (this is from memory, so please correct me).

    *Up the close and doun the stair*
*    But an ben with Burke and Hare*
*    Burke's the butcher*
*    Hare's the thief*
*    Knox, the boy that buys the beef*

By the way, in  my dialect of Alaska English, from as far west as you can go
in the U.S., *stairs* always has the plural form except in combination:
stairwell, stairway. I suppose you could argue that stirrup (stair-rope) is
an exception.

Also, scissors, trousers, pants are always treated as plurals. I've heard "a
scissor" and "pant leg" but I always thought this marked someone as being
from somewhere else.

Does anyone know when the word *battery* in the sense of electrical storage
devices became singular?

Thanks,
John

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Grammar

Hi, John!

How nice of you to join us!  Welcome to the speakers' corner!

We need to hear more about language in Alaska, and, you know, I believe
there are some sorts of wrens at least in the south of that beautiful state
...

Cheerio!

Reinhard/Ron

•

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