Why is it "feet" and not "foots"?

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Here is one for you English grammar buffs. The question was asked on Quora this AM:
Why is it "feet" and not "foots"?

 

Why is it "geese" and not "gooses"?

Why is it "mice" and not "mouses" if we are speaking of members of the animal kingdom but it is "mouses" and "mouse" when referring to computer hardware?

Why is it "dice" and not "dies"?

Why is it "lice" and not "louses"?

Why is it "teeth" and not "tooths"?

Why? Because it is English....which uses words that originate from other languages.

http://www.rinkworks.com/words/wordforms.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plurals

 

Indeed, I have come to realize in the last couple of yrs just what an ass the English language is.

 

I beg to differ. I find the English language quite fascinating, and especially enjoy the differences in words, meaning and slang between American English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English and South African English.

For example, what name is most commonly used to describe running or athletic shoes in each country?.....

Tackies-South Africa
Trainers-Britain
Sneakers-Northeastern United States
Athletic shoes-Western United States
Runners, sneakers -Canada & Australia

(please confirm)

Also, in what country is a traffic light called a "robot" and a bathing suit called a "costume"?

In California, the term "sneaker" is rarely used to describe athletic shoes except by people who are from the east coast states. We call them just athletic shoes or running shoes here in California.

I love the regional variations of the English language...it is so interesting!!:drinks

 

There yous goes thatll sort ugh sort it out for yous (me doesnt thought).

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/77848/was-book-to-beek-as-foot-is-to-feet

Bill

 

often when singular words become plural, I have noticed that the vowel letter also changes.
Not sure of the precise rule for this but there probably is one.
So foot is singular.
When it becomes plural, the vowel letters change.
Off course this isn't the case for all singular to plural words because we also borrow from other languages and still use old english - plus the vikings had an influence.
Child/children, sheep/sheep are examples of plural where the vowel does not change - vikings added 'S' a lot.
Maybe I should have chosen the English degree instead and then I'd know the correct answer LOL

 

Spot on! Or should I say Spots on?

The value of Latin and Greek is that the languages do not change and therefore are used for international accuracy in, for example in our field, anatomy. However, English is really a bastard language being capable of picking up borrowed words whenever convenient. So British English is made up of Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norman French and Scandinavian. However, as a result of Empire, you might be quite grateful if I lent you a pair of pyjamas, even more so if I gifted you a bungalow but you would not like me at all if I gave you a kick in the goolies - I'd only do that if I was doolali tap and not at all pukka. All of these are derived from Hindi, the former two accepted English, the latter two slang.
You can get a pint or a tinny, a party can or a slab, beer, ale, stout, lager, bitter, mild, ginger minge, waggle dance etc.etc. I love the fact that in England you use a rubber to erase your mistakes, whilst in the USA you use a rubber to ensure that you don't make one!

English is a vibrant ever changing language in a dull world of conformity, and I say Vive Le Difference!

Bill Liggins

 

You might well say "Vive Le Difference" as the phrase has almost become part of the English language and is thus susceptible to vibrant change. However if there was any value in checking it against the current French use it might be more correct to use la instead of le and if you really wanted to get carried away a little acute accent above the first e (é) of différence might be seen as perfection but then again it might open you to the accusation of Frog lover.

Bill

PS I have often wondered why when using a measuring tape it is common to hear people say, for example, six foot.

In the Scots language when talking about a childs feet or small feet the word "feetie" or "feeties" was (and might still be) used.

 

Thanks Bill

I was using the phrase Vive Le Difference ironically to demonstrate how the English, as opposed to the French language, is not prissy about accepting change - hence the capital letters, the masculine 'Le' and without the acute accent. However, I do love the Frogs - at least I love their wine if not their whine.

All the best

Bill

 

Try and explain to person learning English...

You first have to chop a tree down, so you can chop the tree up!

What else ya got?

 

As you know, I dealing with issues associated with reading .... and its still an ass

We just going through last night this one:

rid
ride

You and I automatically get the different "i" sounds and automatically process it to read fluently.

Imagine not getting it .... imagine you have to first learn and remember the rule that the "e" changes the "i" sound ... once you finally get to remember that, you then have to remember to stop and apply that rule every time you see the "e" on the end ... you then have to hesitate to process that and decide if to apply the rule or not ... and this has to be done in the context of trying to remember what that sentence was even about as you have just spent all your "computing" power on that one word .... apply that to all other words and all the other "rules" that accompany the English language... then imagine that you forgot the rules tomorrow and have to start again .... welcome to the world that I have had to immerse myself in to understand. ... English is an ass!

 

"Cough", "bough", "rough". All end "ough" all pronounced differently.

My favourite confusing word when translating is "bow".
"Bow": the front section of a ship; to bend or curve downwards; a weapon; a rod with horsehair used to play music instruments; a knot having two loops and two ends; to curve or cause to form a curve; or old Scots term for a herd of cattle, "a bow of ky".

You need to know the context!

 

Standing in the bow, he tied a bow before taking his bow to fire at the bow of ky and finishing with a deep bow.

Bill

 

As a 2nd language English speaker, what I see people finding the hardest is the correct use of prepostions, false friends and the pronunciation inconsistencies, first language is Spanish btw. Then there are all these words you guys have that use the same combination of letter but are pronounced differently (As Tkemp was saying: Cough", "bough", "rough") and the ones that are spelled differently but pronounced the same (Vain, vein, vane). It takes some time getting used to it.

On the upside English doesn't have feminine and masculine words like Spanish which affect the adjectives and articles.

Best language is Swahili, almost no irregular verbs, rules are there to be followed and for once, in a language, exceptions are fewer than the rule. Also, as an added bonus, the pronunciation of the different letters is exactly like Spanish.

Cheers,
Manuel H. Gonzalez

 

Just a little background to help you make sense of the penultimate sentence of this message.

A teacher is talking with another teacher about the results of a question in an exam paper. The correct answer to the question was 'had had'. The insinuation is that one of the boys (the thick boy) because he got the right answer had cheated by copying from the other boy (the smart arras).

In the sentence the teacher start talking about one boy and immediately thinks she should have referred to the other boy first and starts to talk about him.

The sentence below is the result of some friends sitting in a pub and for some reason or other trying to see how many times they could use the word 'had' in a row (that's row as in one after the other and not in an argument or using oars)

"John, James having had 'had had', had 'had had; 'had had' had been correct".

Can you do that in other languages?

Bill

PS So Maybe it's a little forced but with a couple of pints inside you it becomes falling of seat funny. OK four pints.

 

And, then, with us all typing now it's easy to leave out a space, and change the meaning , maybe not for the best, as in:
"the pen is, mightier than the sword"
Imagine leaving out the spacing between 'pen' and 'is', whilst writing a pretentious, literary email to your mistress. ( I know the comma is wrong but a little licence).
One of the most successful adaptations of English is the Hiberno- English developed by the Irish.It has given us a plethora of world famous writers.

 

I learned to read from the labels on the cardboard boxes that covered the inside walls of my bedroom when I was 3. I had some trouble understanding why the town sign said onion [Union] then when I got to third grade I rebelled against learning all the exceptions.
Thank You Google for spell checking as I type.

 

When I was little I used to think the "To Let" signs were indicators of public conveniences.
I also used to think "undertone" was a room in the cellar/ basement.
LOL!!!