Languages and Linguistics | Polyglots, Language Learners and Linguists!

615 readers

1 users here now

A community for languages, linguistics and people interested in both!

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

sparky

[email protected]

Does anybody use "a scissors"? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/languages

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was watching an episode of Monk (S03E12), and in the first few minutes, the detective asks his assistant "Do you have a pliers?" That immediately struck me as weird, but later, towards the end of the episode, he makes the comment "This was cut with a scissors." The only place I've ever seen 'a scissors' was in old Peanuts cartoons, and I've never ever heard 'a pliers', but I guess it could make sense in a way.

I grew up saying a pair of scissors or pliers, which is weird in its own way, since it's a single object. I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever heard these terms.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The only place I’ve ever seen ‘a scissors’ was in old Peanuts cartoons

I was going to say the same thing. It was so unusual that I specifically remember it after 30+ years.