this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Objection!

You can use fishes for multiple species however it is not required. You can use fish for a collection of trout and bass

There is nothing to object to. You just repeated the picture. It says "can", just like you did. Doesn't say "must".

You, at most, clarified or highlighted what was said. But you didn't object. You agreed.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Now do email!

[–] tastysnacks@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Does any other plural work this way? Or is this just another stupid ass English variation?

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Person/People does. The word "peoples" can be used as multiple different groups of people.

For instance you can say to "the peoples of Europe" to refer to Germans, French, Italian, etc.

[–] tastysnacks@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

interesting. so it's like a plural or a plural. so I can say the monkeyses of the Amazon.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No because plural of the same type of monkey would still be monkeys.

[–] wieson@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But people is a non-countable word, like water. You don't have one people, two people.

When talking about peoples of [place] it's a countable word.

Fish is countable.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People are countable. That's the whole point of a census. Water can come in any amount, such as 3.5 litres. People come in discrete numbers. You can't have .5 of a person.

I think the thing confusing you is that it's one of those weird English words where the singular and plural word are different. Person/people vs car/cars.

[–] Pyroglyph@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

You can still say "waters" though. For example: "The waters of Amsterdam" would collectively refer to all bodies of water in Amsterdam. Another example I came across online was "Don't forget your waters" which referred to multiple bottles of water.

[–] Ehoalid@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] BluesF@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

Hmmm. I'm just going to keep using this to refer to all my I'll gotten gains.

[–] sik0fewl@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Uncountable nouns (i.e.,things you usually measure by volume or weight) behave this way as well.

e.g., salt/salts to mean any measure of salt vs different types of salts. Beer/beers to mean any amount of liquid beer vs different beer styles or products.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If there's more than 1 species of sheep, can I say sheeps?

[–] Steak@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Muffi@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

Chill, Gollum

[–] BluesF@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Of course anyone who hears this is likely to just think you're an idiot.

[–] Jesse@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

I get eaten by the worms... and weird fishes...

[–] TheDrunkard@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a good thing that English isn't actually defined by any one person or entity, and simply by its usage. That means this is bullshit.

[–] Jesse@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

As you say in your first sentence, language is by consensus. And, the long-standing consensus among ichthyologists is to use exactly this terminology, and you'll find it consistently across the scientific literature for generations now.