Weird Possibly Dumb Question?

[LogGrad98]

I like to snort MSG

???

 

[ema]

Babe, so, they exert Gf's nefarious plan to all of us already?

 

[moevillini]

here's a question - why when using phrases like "there's a X year age difference" or "there's a X hour time difference" etc - why is the noun (ie, year or hour) singular even though the number is most likely more than one? Examples: there's a three year age difference between my kids, or there's a two hour time difference between Chicago and Los Angeles.

But if you say it like this: the difference is three years or the difference is two hours then you pluralize the noun.

Doesn't that seem odd?

 

[ema]

here's a question - why when using phrases like "there's a X year age difference" or "there's a X hour time difference" etc - why is the noun (ie, year or hour) singular even though the number is most likely more than one? Examples: there's a three year age difference between my kids, or there's a two hour time difference between Chicago and Los Angeles.

But if you say it like this: the difference is three years or the difference is two hours then you pluralize the noun.

Doesn't that seem odd?

Because it's English. You guys have no idea how irregular English language is. Here is a poem I remember from mid school.

Let's face it.
English is a strange language.
There is no egg in the eggplant,
No ham in the hamburger,
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England.
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted,
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly,
Boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth,
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth?
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.

If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play,
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down,
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out,
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers,
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all).

That is why
When the stars are out they are visible,
But when the lights are out they are invisible.
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts,
But when I wind up this poem
It ends.

 

[addictionary]

here's a question - why when using phrases like "there's a X year age difference" or "there's a X hour time difference" etc - why is the noun (ie, year or hour) singular even though the number is most likely more than one? Examples: there's a three year age difference between my kids, or there's a two hour time difference between Chicago and Los Angeles.

But if you say it like this: the difference is three years or the difference is two hours then you pluralize the noun.

Doesn't that seem odd?

Cause the word year is not a noun but more like an adjective in there. And I think it's more about the word phrases than the rules. Imagine a sentence like "I'm gonna year your sorry young face!" Now it's a verb. The same rule applies to words that hold a value of accountability/quantity. E.g. "Honey can you pay that fifty dollar bill for me? I'm a little down these days." Making it plural makes the saying sound a bit raw. So them English speakers leave it like that.

 

[moevillini]

LOL @ ECTYA


that reminds me of an I Love Lucy episode where Ricky is trying to read a story to Little Ricky and he pronounces "bough" to rhyme with "through" (boo) and "cough" to rhyme with "bough" (cow)

 

[moevillini]

here's a question - why when using phrases like "there's a X year age difference" or "there's a X hour time difference" etc - why is the noun (ie, year or hour) singular even though the number is most likely more than one? Examples: there's a three year age difference between my kids, or there's a two hour time difference between Chicago and Los Angeles.

But if you say it like this: the difference is three years or the difference is two hours then you pluralize the noun.

Doesn't that seem odd?

Cause the word year is not a noun but more like an adjective in there. And I think it's more about the word phrases than the rules. Imagine a sentence like "I'm gonna year your sorry young face!" Now it's a verb. The same rule applies to words that hold a value of accountability/quantity. E.g. "Honey can you pay that fifty dollar bill for me? I'm a little down these days." Making it plural makes the saying sound a bit raw. So them English speakers leave it like that.

ah thank you, AD, makes sense!

Actually, I think at one point I had a teacher who instructed us to hyphenate those types of phrases: three-year gap, two-hour time difference and so on


But I don't get how you would "year" a face? Explain please

 

[addictionary]

ah thank you, AD, makes sense!

Actually, I think at one point I had a teacher who instructed us to hyphenate those types of phrases: three-year gap, two-hour time difference and so on


But I don't get how you would "year" a face? Explain please

Giving someone a terrible news? Hiding her moisturizor and other cosmetic products? Burying her head into sand? I'm sure there are more creative solutions for that =)

 

[LogGrad98]

Cause the word year is not a noun but more like an adjective in there. And I think it's more about the word phrases than the rules. Imagine a sentence like "I'm gonna year your sorry young face!" Now it's a verb. The same rule applies to words that hold a value of accountability/quantity. E.g. "Honey can you pay that fifty dollar bill for me? I'm a little down these days." Making it plural makes the saying sound a bit raw. So them English speakers leave it like that.

This is getting there. The problem is you are missing hyphens. Two-year time difference as opposed to two year time difference, or two-hour time difference instead of two hour. In that case "two-year" or "two-hour" is describing the time difference. Like a two-year contract.

Ah the lost art of grammar.


Punctuation saves lives:

"Let's eat, grandma!"
"Let's eat grandma!"

 

[moevillini]

BRAVO LOG!!!!!

You win the internetz.


But we can't just eat grammar no how!

 

[addictionary]

This is getting there. The problem is you are missing hyphens. Two-year time difference as opposed to two year time difference, or two-hour time difference instead of two hour. In that case "two-year" or "two-hour" is describing the time difference. Like a two-year contract.

Ah the lost art of grammar.


Punctuation saves lives:

"Let's eat, grandma!"
"Let's eat grandma!"

LoL there is a similar example in Turkish for that. Not sure if the translation gives the idea but I'll try. If not, then lots of LoLz for Turkish posters.

Read my son like your father, don't be a donkey.
Read my son, like your father don't be a donkey.