"No coward soul is mine
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere
I see Heaven's glories shine
And Faith shines equal arming me from Fear
0 God within my breast
Almighty ever-present Deity
Life, that in me hast rest
As I Undying Life, have power in Thee!"
- Emily Bronte, No Coward Soul is Mine (her last poem)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I put on a shirt and my pants. Why don't I put on my shirts and a pant?
I've heard that it's because "pant" refers to the pant leg, and there are two of those, hence the plural. Fair enough. So why don't we call our shirts "sleeves"?
I could handle putting on my sleeves and my pants. At least that's consistent.
And there is the added complication when discussing pajamas (I thought of this after posting the previous post): we don't call them pajama pants. At least we don't around here. They are called pajama bottoms.
But, darn it if we don't keep that plural. Pajama bottoms. I can put on my pajama bottoms all day long. But I can't put on my pajama tops.
English. It's weird.
