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From: Mike L <n...@yahoo.co.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Plural but singular in construction
Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:37:41 +0100
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On Sun, 23 Sep 2012 01:54:15 -0500, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

>Mike Lyle:
>> I can't think of one. But, at a tangent, "scissors" is interesting.
>> Standard English handles it like other inseparable pairs - trousers,
>> spectacles, etc. But as late as the 19th C it was quite normal to
>> speak of "a scissors" instead of "a pair of sc." - and in Welsh
>> English it still is.
>
>Also in railway English.  This is a scissors:
>
>   http://www.tokyu-car.co.jp/eng/rs/img/rt_02.jpg
>
>(Also called a "scissors crossing", "scissors crossover", etc.)

That's decidedly elegant. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like
it.

Does N Am football have the "scissors" move I mentioned in connection
with Rugby?

-- 
Mike.