[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by echo77

.....

Improvise means to do something without having a plan to do so, often in circumstances where you have to do something at the spur of the moment.

And, sometimes, having a sense of humour helps; to say nothing about the appropriate emoticon used in the said post!

[amitoj]

This from the Times Of India headline:
"The issue of advertisements published in a section of newspapers in Bihar praising Chief Minister Narendra Modi and to highlight the status of Muslims in Gujarat, is getting curiouser and curiouser."

Mystery shrouds sponsor Alam Khan in Modi ad - Surat - City - The Times of India



I wonder if the reference to Alice's quote was intentional.

[Edsel Rulez!]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I wonder if the reference to Alice's quote was intentional.

I'm sure it is. The phrase has become so common that it's now considered a cliché.

[vivekiny2k]

I am beginning to understand why George Bush was so successful. It's all about the level of english

Language guru: Obama speech too 'professorial' for his target audience - CNN.com

[echo77]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

And, sometimes, having a sense of humour helps; to say nothing about the appropriate emoticon used in the said post!

I took that emoticon the other way - no harm. Am a late entrant to this thread, hence do not know how many of you fake it

[Mpower]

Heard of school buses and college buses but never heard of student buses..until recently.

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

I am beginning to understand why George Bush was so successful. It's all about the level of english

Sarah Palin also had a sizeable fan following during the campaign because they found her like the neighbour next door. But I think its was more about the level of IQ.

[Wolfheart]

Alright guys what is the plural of roof? I've always been using rooves. However I see roofs being used by many and it just doesn't seem correct. Which one is it?

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Wolfheart

Alright guys what is the plural of roof? ...

more than one roof --> roofs.

This is an exception to the rule (wolf-wolves, calf-calves, half-halves).

[Thad E Ginathom]

The singular of grooves is not groof!

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

more than one roof --> roofs.

This is an exception to the rule (wolf-wolves, calf-calves, half-halves).

I clearly remember being taught that the plural of roof is rooves in school. For e.g. "My car has two sunrooves". Sunroofs sounds inappropriate although it may also be correct. It sounds like Americanese to me though.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Wolfheart

I clearly remember being taught that the plural of roof is rooves in school. ...

, which school ? .

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The singular of grooves is not groof!

Good one, LOL (2 smiley limit...aargh)

[mallumowgli]

I think 'f' becoming 'ves' for plural is applicable mostly only for words ending with 'lf' (half - halves, calf-calves, shelf-shelves), whereas in the case of 'oof', plural shall be only 'oofs' (like the earlier mentioned roof - roofs and also proof-proofs). An exception i can think of is hoof, where both hoofs and hooves are acceptable. Am not sure whether any rules exist for this

[echo77]

English plural - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plurals are divided into 3 categories: regular, almost regular and irregular

If you are a popular writer (like JRR Tolkien), you can create your own plural and get away with it

Note 1: For dwarf, the common form of the plural was dwarfs—as, for example, in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—until J. R. R. Tolkien popularized dwarves; he intended the changed spelling to differentiate the "dwarf" fantasy race in his novels from the cuter and simpler beings common in fairy tales, but his usage has since spread. Multiple astronomical dwarf stars and multiple nonmythological short human beings, however, remain dwarfs.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by echo77

English plural - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plurals are divided into 3 categories: regular, almost regular and irregular

If you are a popular writer (like JRR Tolkien), you can create your own plural and get away with it

True that. But then if you're famous you can get away with anything. Like convincing the whole world that Santa wore red and white clothes.

Further, the Coca-Cola advertising campaign had the effect of popularising the depiction of Santa as wearing red and white, in contrast to the variety of colours he wore prior to that campaign; red and white was originally given by Nast

From Wikipedia.

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The singular of grooves is not groof!

Going by that logic the singular of dwarves wouldn't be dwarf, leaves wouldn't be leaf and hooves wouldn't be hoof! Besides, shouldn't the plural be derived from the singular rather than the other way round?

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

, which school ? .

Apparently, roofs and rooves are both acceptable as the plural of roof. Roofs having evolved from rooves is more commonly used now. However, in some countries such as New Zealand rooves is primarily used as the correct plural of roof.

By the way I was taught at a Mumbai school and not somewhere in middle earth (read NZ) as you appear to imagine.