Plurals

“If we all row in the same directions, …”

Adjectives, Nouns, Plurals

I saw this in a corporate announcement.

Problem:
The noun should be singular, not plural.

Explanation:
The full sentence was “If we all row in the same directions, we will ultimately climb the mountains and be successful.”

Beyond this sentence’s mixed metaphor (more on that in tomorrow’s post), there is a problem with the “If” clause.

First, we must agree that anyone can row in only one direction at any given time.

Now, suppose that you are rowing in a direction and that I am rowing in a direction.

Suppose further that these two directions are identical.

Then there is one and only one direction in which the two of us are rowing.

We would call this “the same direction”.

By the way, it is incorrect to say that the adjective “same” always modifies a singular noun.

An example of the adjective “same” correctly modifying a plural noun appears in “Jack and Jill like the same fruits.”

Solution:
“If we all row in the same direction, …”

Why do people pluralize company names?

Plurals, Possessives

I hear and see a lot of pluralization of company names.

Here are some examples.

Many people pluralize J.D. Power and Associates as “J.D. Powers” — as in, “They won the J.D. Powers award three times.”

Many people pluralize Barnes & Noble as “Barnes & Nobles” — as in, “Did you see that book at Barnes & Nobles?”

Many people pluralize Kroger as “Krogers” — as in, “I am going to Krogers. Do you need anything?”

And what sounds sometimes like a possessive-apostrophe-“s” is often written simply with an “s”, so I know that not everyone is trying to make the name into a possessive.

“Beware the ides of March.”

Nouns, Plurals

When I saw this morning that today was March 15, I thought of the statement “Beware the ides of March.”

This statement, which refers to the 15th of March, is from a soothsayer in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.

But I still wondered about the origin of the plural noun “ides”, so I looked up the word at dictionary.com.

And I learned a few things.

  • The word “ides” is from the ancient Roman calendar and dates back to approximately 1330.
  • The word “ides” refers not only to the 15th of March but also to the 15th of May, July, and October.
  • The word “ides” refers to the 13th of every other month in the ancient Roman calendar.
  • Eight days in each month collectively are known as the ides, but only the final one (e.g., the 15th of March) gets to be called specifically the “ides” of that month. The day before a month’s “ides” day is called “the day before the ides”, two days before a month’s “ides” day can be called “two days before the ides”, and so on.

Snooping around the Web some more, I learned that astrologists also care about the ides.

So now I am wondering whether we should be careful about May 15, July 15, and October 15, too.

That is what I get for being inquisitive!