In message <p0510100ab8c630b43d7b@[193.120.113.138]>
Michael Everson <everson@evertype.com> wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I have written an open letter to the Minister for Finance, Charlie
> McCreevy, about the serious problem we have in Ireland, namely, that
> the false plural without -s is used with the words "euro" and "cent"
> in Ireland and that this bad grammar is given to us all hundreds of
> times of day on television every day.
Hmm. Bit off-topic, but...
I see the EU have tied themselves up in knots over this. Personally, I'm
quite happy with "euro" as a plural, as "euros" is pretty ugly (and why
shouldn't it be "euroes", like "heroes"?). There's also precedent with other
currencies, such as "yen", albeit with the excuse that they were foreign
words.
On the other hand, "cent" as a plural is silly, as it's a pre-existing
English word, which already has a perfectly functional regular plural.
-- Kevin Bracey, Principal Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology plc Tel: +44 (0) 1223 518566 645 Newmarket Road Fax: +44 (0) 1223 518526 Cambridge, CB5 8PB, United Kingdom WWW: http://www.pace.co.uk/
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