You keep using that word. I do not think

[Neutros the Radioactive Dragon]

Unfortunately it is due to the marketing of the famous electric scooter of the same name.

[Jonathon]

My impression is that very few people spell it right, and the scooter isn't solely to blame. It took me a long time to learn that it wasn't "segue way." Borrowings from French are very common, and in French a word spelled "segue" would be pronounced "seg." Borrowings from Italian are far rarer by comparison, so most English speakers don't have a good handle on how to pronounce or spell Italian words.

[JT]

The strange thing, though, is that I rarely saw that misspelling before the marketing of the scooter.  In the last two years I've seen it spelled incorrectly more than correctly.

[theCrowsWife]

What am I? chopped liver? (to use a Tante-ism).  I have a link to Polyface too!

(great that you caught that, though, Mel.  I probably would have read right over it and not even noticed the incorrect use)

I'll just keep on digging, over here. (The hole that I'm standing in, that is.)

--

The mistake didn't particularly bother me, but it did make me laugh. I'm still chuckling over "pasteurized ducklings" every time I think of it. Then I start thinking about "homogenized ducklings," and maybe even "heavy whipping ducklings," and then I'm having way too much fun.

It reminds me of being a silly teenager on too much sugar and caffiene, where we thought the funniest thing was going through the pantry and replacing parts of food names with the word "chicken," such as "vegetarian refried chicken."

--Mel

[Jonathon]

This could also go on the Quotes from Work thread:

Tis the season to be jolly and if the Salt Lake HQ Seasonal Soiree doesn’t jack up the falalalala’s then nothing will.  Please join special guest(s) to include [our CEO] (Frosty, Rudolph and Burger Meister Meister Burger were already booked – it is their busiest time you know) in the HWS Auditorium on Tuesday, December 18th at 11:00 am.

A soiree at 11:00 am? I'm pretty sure that would make it a matinee.

[Porter]

But that doesn't start with an S!

[Jonathon]

What does starting with s have to do with anything?

[Tante Shvester]

As always, alluding to alliteration.

[Brinestone]

Alliteration.

[Jonathon]

Gesundheit.

I didn't realize that alliteration was more important than using words correctly.

[Tante Shvester]

Live and learn.

[rivka]

duel citizenship

*giggle*

[Tante Shvester]

I'm on the fence about that.

[rivka]

Training session the other day, where the trainer kept talking about "lists of criterion" and "single criteria."

 >.<  

[Porter]

That requires a special kind of talent.

[Jonathon]

I think I can see the rationale, though. Normally, the plural is just one extra sound (sometimes two) added on to the end of a word. Phonetically, criteria and criterion differ only by the n on the end of the latter. So I can see how in some people's minds, the one with the extra sound seems like it should be the plural.

Of course, this doesn't make it right.  

[rivka]

I was thinking something similar. I wish I could have figured out a way to say something quietly to her afterwards -- I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices these things.

Oh, I should mention in her defense, that while her English is excellent and barely accented, she is not a native speaker.

[goofy]

I was thinking something similar. I wish I could have figured out a way to say something quietly to her afterwards -- I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices these things.

Oh, I should mention in her defense, that while her English is excellent and barely accented, she is not a native speaker.

I don't think being a native speaker would make a difference. I don't think there is any other English word that follows the pattern of criterion/criteria (which is why criteria is usually used as a singular count noun, with the plural criteria or criterias). Using criterion as the plural seems completely understandable for a native or non-native speaker, especially if they're aware that the word has 2 forms and they're not sure which is which.

imo there's no reason why English speakers or learners should be expected to know the morphological rules for making plurals in other languages.

[rivka]

I don't think being a native speaker would make a difference.

More years of experience, and having attended primary school in that language.

[goofy]

Is a primary school going to teach you that the Greek plural of criterion is criteria? Many native speakers don't know that, since criteria is usually used as a singular noun.

[Porter]

More years of experience in a language is certainly going to make it more likely that they'll pick up on the word criterion.  I was never taught it either, but somehow I know it.

[Lady Montagu]

It is not a Greek plural. It is a Latin one.

[Jonathon]

I think being a native speaker probably makes you more likely to know it, but obviously a lot of people make it through secondary school and even through college without learning it. It's possible that you two, Rivka and Porter, are more the exception than the rule.

[goofy]

More years of experience in a language is certainly going to make it more likely that they'll pick up on the word criterion.  I was never taught it either, but somehow I know it.

This speaker obviously knew the word criterion. But most native speakers, who have had as much experience as you can get, don't use criterion as the singular. Hence my claim that being a native or non-native speaker has nothing to do with this.

It is not a Greek plural. It is a Latin one.

It's Greek

[rivka]

Is a primary school going to teach you that the Greek plural of criterion is criteria?

Mine did.

But I was less referring to formal instruction than to the kind of learning by immersion that Porter is talking about.