Plural of taxi
Robert Lieblich
>
> Webster gives both taxis and taxies as correct. How come? And who is to
> decide?
As always, usage decides. In the US, "taxis" is standard.
Bob Lieblich
Petibacsi
Andy Powney
Robert Lieblich wrote in message <362D38...@erols.com>...
>Petibacsi wrote:
>>
>> Webster gives both taxis and taxies as correct. How come? And who is to
>> decide?
>
>
It's the same in the UK. I actually thought that "taxies" was the present
third person singular of the verb "to taxi".
e.g. The plane taxies to the terminal as the taxis wait.
mlo...@slip.net
> Petibacsi wrote:
> >
> > Webster gives both taxis and taxies as correct. How come? And who is to
> > decide?
>
> As always, usage decides. In the US, "taxis" is standard.
What about "buses" v. "busses"? The local bus company (the San
Francisco Municipal Railroad) uses the latter; it looks absurd to me.
M.
Robert Lieblich
If you were simply given the word "bus" and asked to form the plural,
the regular plural would be "busses." But there's also a word "buss"
(actually more than one -- there's the fuse and there's the kiss, for
example), and it has the plural "busses." So the more common plural for
"bus" is "buses," in order to maintain the differentiation. "Busses" as
the plural of "bus" isn't quite *wrong*, but it's less desirable and
much less frequent thatn "buses." Which may explain why "busses" looks
strange (I wouldn't call it "absurd").
Bob Lieblich
Bill McCray
>What about "buses" v. "busses"? The local bus company (the San
>Francisco Municipal Railroad) uses the latter; it looks absurd to me.
>
To me, the singular of "buses" is probably "buse" and of "busses" is
probably "bus". Thus, I prefer the latter. "Buses" also looks to me as
if it should be pronounced as it would in "abuses".
Bill McCray
Lexington, KY
Tim DeLaney
See also "gas" and its plural. (I'm in the compressed gas industry.)
BTW, the plural of taxi is "cabs". :-)
--
Tim DeLaney
Daniel James
"Taxi" is short for "taximetrical cabriolet" (i.e. an open carriage
with a meter to measre the distance travelled), so the plural is
"taximetrical cabriolets" - or possibly "taximetrical cabrioletti"?
Shall we settle for "cabs"?
"Bus" is short for "Omnibus" (meaning "for everyone" - or at least
everyone who can't afford a cab). The plural is still "omnibus" -
because they're still for everyone, however many there may be.
In London, at least, the plural should probably be "bus" because they
only ever arrive in threes anyway.
The question of why there should ever be more than one omnibus, if one
is enough for everyone is probably moot.
Cheers,
Daniel.
janelaw
>
> "Taxi" is short for "taximetrical cabriolet" (i.e. an open carriage
> with a meter to measre the distance travelled), so the plural is
> "taximetrical cabriolets" - or possibly "taximetrical cabrioletti"?
>
> Shall we settle for "cabs"?
>
> "Bus" is short for "Omnibus"
Well then, the correct plural is obviously "omnibi."
The shortened form must be "bi."
Yoshiro Shibasaki
Although it came from Latin, -bus is not the termination of noun. So you
cannot coinjugate.
Omni-: many
bus: capacity,
--
Yoshiro Shibasaki, PhD
Edinburgh, Scotland
Yoshiro Shibasaki
Sorry, it was not right. I was thinking about aother thing and confused
with the "omnibus" matter. I'm too tired :(
Anyway, if you conjugate "omnibus" with the Latin-grammar it should be
"omniba" and "omnibum". So short form is "Ba", 'though I like "Bum"
better :p
janelaw
I was joking. :-)
Nonetheless, your "bum" preference notwithstanding, the correct
plural would be "bi."
Earle Jones
>janelaw wrote:
>>
>> Daniel James wrote:
>> >
>> > "Taxi" is short for...
[...]
--
The word "taxi" is plural.
The singular is "taxum".
earle
--
__
__/\_\
/\_\/_/
\/_/\_\ earle
\/_/ jones
We want our Internet back! Get rid of Spam.
See http://www.cauce.org
Robert Lieblich
<snip>
> > Anyway, if you conjugate "omnibus" with the Latin-grammar it should be
> > "omniba" and "omnibum". So short form is "Ba", 'though I like "Bum"
> > better :p
> >
> > --
> > Yoshiro Shibasaki, PhD
> > Edinburgh, Scotland
>
> I was joking. :-)
>
> Nonetheless, your "bum" preference notwithstanding, the correct
> plural would be "bi."
"Omnibus" is the dative or ablative plural of the third declension noun
omnis, -es. It cannot be legitimately pluralized in Latin. It means,
roughly, "for all," which explains its application to a public
conveyance available to all. It is by now solidly established as an
English word, as is also its abbreviated form -- "bus." But except as a
joke, no plural other than "buses" or "busses" is possible. Of the two,
"buses" is much more common, because English also contains words spelled
"buss," which take the plural "busses."
"Bi" is cute, maybe even clever. But it's no more a legitimate Latin
plural than "octopi." Or, for that matter, "stewardi."
Bob Lieblich
Earle Jones
<tig...@doruk-net.tr> wrote:
>Earle Jones wrote in message ...
>>The word "taxi" is plural.
>>The singular is "taxum".
>No, that would be "taxus".
>
>Bob
>Istanbul
--
Bob: You're right.
I'll have one martinus.
Can you join me? Make that two martini.
Opinicus
>The word "taxi" is plural.
>The singular is "taxum".
No, that would be "taxus".
Bob
Istanbul
---
To reply by email, dot the dash in doruk-net.
Kanyak's Doghouse <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/5309/>
Daniel James
> Anyway, if you conjugate "omnibus" with the Latin-grammar it should be
> "omniba" and "omnibum". So short form is "Ba", 'though I like "Bum"
> better :p
>
Nice try but no banana!
There is an almost-famous poem that I cannot now track down in which the
poet declines "motor bus" to "motorem bum".
[ ...and, just in case you weren't joking: "omnibus" is the dative
plural of the 3rd declension adjective "omnis" (all, every). It is not a
singular noun from which a plural can be formed by changing the ending,
and if it were the plural would be "omnibi" as janelaw has already
wittily pointed out. ]
Cheers,
Daniel.
janelaw
>
> janelaw wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > > Anyway, if you conjugate "omnibus" with the Latin-grammar it should be
> > > "omniba" and "omnibum". So short form is "Ba", 'though I like "Bum"
> > > better :p
> > >
> > > Yoshiro Shibasaki, PhD
> > > Edinburgh, Scotland
> >
> > I was joking. :-)
> >
> > Nonetheless, your "bum" preference notwithstanding, the correct
> > plural would be "bi."
>
> "Omnibus" is the dative or ablative plural of the third declension noun
> omnis, -es. It cannot be legitimately pluralized in Latin. It means,
> roughly, "for all," which explains its application to a public
> conveyance available to all. It is by now solidly established as an
> English word, as is also its abbreviated form -- "bus." But except as a
> joke, no plural other than "buses" or "busses" is possible. Of the two,
> "buses" is much more common, because English also contains words spelled
> "buss," which take the plural "busses."
>
> "Bi" is cute, maybe even clever. But it's no more a legitimate Latin
> plural than "octopi." Or, for that matter, "stewardi."
>
> Bob Lieblich
MAYBE even clever? I'll have you know, it's exceptionally
clever for me. It's the dative, BTW.
David C. Jack
>
> Daniel James wrote:
> >
> > with a meter to measre the distance travelled), so the plural is
> > "taximetrical cabriolets" - or possibly "taximetrical cabrioletti"?
> >
> > Shall we settle for "cabs"?
> >
> > "Bus" is short for "Omnibus"
>
> Well then, the correct plural is obviously "omnibi."
>
> The shortened form must be "bi."
How about "omnibodes"?
Dave
David C. Jack
>
> Earle Jones wrote in message ...
> >The word "taxi" is plural.
> >The singular is "taxum".
> No, that would be "taxus".
>
Careful, or we'll see a bill in Congress to reduce them.
Dave
John Davies
<inte...@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>> "omniba" and "omnibum". So short form is "Ba", 'though I like "Bum"
>> better :p
>>
>
>
>There is an almost-famous poem that I cannot now track down in which the
>poet declines "motor bus" to "motorem bum".
>
>[ ...and, just in case you weren't joking: "omnibus" is the dative
>plural of the 3rd declension adjective "omnis" (all, every). It is not a
>singular noun from which a plural can be formed by changing the ending,
>and if it were the plural would be "omnibi" as janelaw has already
>wittily pointed out. ]
It's by A D Godley (1856-1925). The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
says it first appeared in a letter to 'C.R.L.F.', whoever he or she
was, dated 12 Jan 1914. It gives the following extract:
What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum...
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti Bis Motoribus?
Domine, defende nos
Contra hos Motores Bos!
I first came across this at school, and know there's at least one other
verse, but most of it has long since fled my ruined memory. The only
fragment I can now recall is:
Implet in the [...] and High
Hordes and hordes Motores Bi
The "High" refers to the street in Oxford. Who and what Godley was is
not known to me, though it probably wouldn't be difficult to discover
more.
--
John Davies (jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk)
Daniel James
Yes, that's the one, thanks. I'll try and remember to track down the
whole thing next time I visit my mother and have free run of her and my
late father's poetry books.
> The "High" refers to the street in Oxford.
>
It looks as though Godley may soon have his wish - I gather that Oxford
City Council are proposing to turn at least part of The High into a
pedestrian area (though if it is anything like the "pedestrian"
Cornmarket motor bus will be the only thing roaring there).
Cheers,
Daniel.
Ian Hudson
> The abstract is referring to the phenomenon that let's say a triangle
has a
> sum of 180 deg in a plane but if you have the same triangle spread on
a
> sphere for example, the sum of the angles can be larger or smaller
than 180
> deg. And the term ?rubber-sheet geometry? describes nicely the
different
> possible shapes of reference frames. But I doubt that there is a
similar
> expression in German other than any official mathematical term.
I am sorry that this seems to suggest what is a misunderstanding.The
term
'rubber-sheet geometry' does not apply to the study of such things
changes in the
properties of triangles as between a plane, the surface of a sphere, or
other
reference frames.
As a popular nickname for topology, it refers to the branch of
mathematics in which
all polygons (triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, dodecagon,
million-sided polygon,
circle or ellipse ...) are mutually indistinguishable (you cannot tell
one from
another as their topological properties are the same).
Each of the curves is just "a closed curve that does not cross itself,
drawn on a
simple surface" .
The shapes they enclose are all just "the shape inside a closed curve
that does not
cross itself ... ".
But all of these curves are distinct from any curve that does cross
itself (such as
a figure of 8 which contains two areas cut of from each other by the
curve) -- which
is immediately topologically different.
All of the shapes contained by the triangle ... circle are distinct from
an area
consisting of the "ring" space between one such shape and another
smaller such shape
which is completely inside it (without crossing or even touching it) on
the same
surface -- which thus is a shape with a "hole" in it.
By the way the surface of a sphere if topologically identical to a
cube, a house
brick without holes, a winde glass, and so on. They all share
properties,
topologically, not shared by the surface of a fat ring, or "doughnut
with a hole
through it". This solid, of which the symmetrical form (think of a thick
beautifully
smooth anchor ring without the anchor) is called a torus, differs from a
sphere in
the same way that a figure of 8 differs from a circle -- it has a
discontinuity.
And a torus is topologically identical to a house brick with one hole
through it, or
to a tea cup or coffee mug with one handle that makes a loop (the
interior of the
cup or mug is not a hole because there is no "drain" in the bottom to
let the drink
out). So a bowling ball is topologically identical to a pool ball
despite the
difference in size and the finger holes.
But all of these "one hole" objects are topologically distinct from a
house brick
with two holes through it. The latter is topologically identical to a
sports cup
with two handles (where those handles are in the form of loops attached
to the
sides, not just solid lugs etc.).
I hope these comparisons explain why this is not about shape, but
continuity or
degree of discontinuity of line or surface.
Ian Hudson
Ysabel Howard
janelaw wrote in message <36315836...@mailexcite.com>...
THE MOTOR BUS - A Godley, quoted The Weekend Book, Penguin, London, 1938
What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum!
Implet in the Corn and High
Terror me Motoris Bi:
Bo Motori clamitabo
Ne Motore caedar a Bo
Dative be or Ablative
So thou only let us live -
Whither shall thy victims flee?
Spare us, spare us, Motor Be!
Came in hordes Motores Bi
Thus I sang; and still anigh
Et complebat omne forum
Copia Motorum Borum.
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti Bis Motoribus?
Domine, defende nos
Contra hoc Motores Bos
Ave atque vale
y...@sarat.demon.co.uk
P&DSchultz
> <...>
> I'll have one martinus.
>
> Can you join me? Make that two martini.
I spotted a man in an Italian restaurant
who had a spaghetto on his necktie.
//P. Schultz
Robert Lieblich
And a raviolus on his plate?
Roberto Lieblicci
Daniel James
> What was the name of the cafe in the Cornmarket where Orwell
> used to sit drinking coffee and writing? I was dismayed to find it
> got swallowed up in a hideous blue-glass shopping thingy at about the
> time the Cornmarket was "pedestrianized"[1].
>
I don't know where Orwell used to sit, and I don't remember a cafe on
the site of the "Clarendon Centre". I do recall branches of Littlewoods
and of Woolworth on that site before the unwelcome incursion of blue
glass (or rather, of glass and blue-painted metal).
I also remember /years/ ago - long before my student days - a baker's
shop with a cafe above it on the other side of Cornmarket. I think it
was on the site of part of what is now Boots the Chemist, roughly
opposite the entrance to the ugly blue thing. It was called "Fuller's",
and it served wonderful toasted tea-cakes that I shall remember for ever
- probably longer.
Cheers,
Daniel.