Conundrum: Plurality
My last Thursday Morning Riddle rhymed four words that each ended with a different letter. It reminded me of an earlier Conundrum that asked you to come up with rhymes for “zoo” without duplicating ending letters.
So, according to this guy, you can find 26 plurals, each of which ends in a different letter of the alphabet. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but let’s see what we can come up with.
He says you don’t need to use words which are both the singular and plural, fish and sheep for example, but I won’t make that restriction. We should probably stick to English, or words commonly used in English. I’ll also put no restrictions on how many responses each reader may post.
So from that post we already have H (fish), P (sheep), N (oxen), and I don’t think we need to worry about S. So that leaves 22 letters.
I’ll kick it off by starting at the beginning with A: data, media, criteria, etc.
21 to go. Any thoughts?
UPDATE: Responses provided by Kenneth W. Davis (3), Pseudo-Pedantius (5), and DeLisa (3), and me (5). 5 letters remain.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
cherubim
octopi
geese
July 4th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Very nice – that’s M, I, and E.
18 left.
July 5th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
you
does “fowl” count?
what about folk?
fry
July 5th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Wow, nicely done. All four are good.
I can’t accept collective nouns, but fowl and folk are also used as plurals. I had to look up fry, but that works too. And “you” is a great catch.
So that gives us U, L, K, and Y.
14 letters still open.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
The 14 letters that remain are:
B C D F G J O Q R T V W X Z
July 5th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
How about flax?
July 5th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
In that same vein, wheat?
Possibly, blood?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Dew?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I see where you’re going, but as far as I know, those words are only used in singular form. I believe they are non-countable nouns, or mass nouns.
Please let me know if I’m missing an alternate use of any of these words.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Just for the record some more “e’s” are: Mice and Dice…
July 5th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Or “pack” is another for “k”, no?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Foci for “i”
(I know I’m not finding new letters but give me a minute) :-)
July 5th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Mice and dice, yes!
Pack is a collective noun, though, and would not have been accepted. The plural of pack is packs.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Foci would have been good, too.
The 14 letters that remain are:
B C D F G J O Q R T V W X Z
July 5th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Could “offspring” count for “G”?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Absolutely. Well done!
Strike G off the list.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Aircraft for “T”?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Yes! Oh, very good.
I was thinking “feet” for T, but yours is way cooler.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Staff for “f”?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Hmmm…
I think “staff” is a collective noun.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
deer
July 5th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Deer, yes! Nice job.
Only 11 letters to go:
B C D F J O Q V W X Z
July 12th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Here’s some more:
Cod, Buffalo, Few, Tableaux, Pez
I’ll also reverse my ruling on DeLisa’s “staff” since I was able to find a source for using it as a plural.
That leaves only five letters left. (B C J Q V)
I’m taking this thread out of the Active category, but if anyone has a plural that ends in one of those five letters, feel free to post it here.