h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm pretty sure that applet is a little app, app being the normal word for application among software developers.

I barely dare mention plurals again, and I may have missed this the last time, but is there a singular of genitals, and precisly which 'bit' would it refer to?

genali genitalier being the group genitals (masc) well to my
first thought[ re prob with spelling though ]

There's not much point in telling us the word if you don't know how to spell it!

Chambers says:
genital (adj)- belonging to generation or the act of producing
n.pl genitals (or genitalia) organs of generation esp. exterior

I guess you can't have a singular organ

oh i can spell "it " can get my mouth round genitalia but cant spell it
or genitals , genatalls or genalia , bad for my labido i know , all i know is its nice to play with words

Ballet is from the Italian Balletto, a little Ballo, or singular genital.

hence my comment about tights.

Is tights a plural?

What about bullet?
Is it like a small bull?

~jwf~

"Is tights a plural?"
Vestboy,

In the words of the old saw:

"Singular at the top, plural at the foot (feet)."

~jwf~

"What about bullet?
Is it like a small bull?"

From the French for ball (interestingly followed in English in all senses - games, armaments, dance) "balle" smallish ball or "boule" (larger and pronounced bool) hence "boulette".

"Bull" is a word of a completely different calibre.

Ballet... tee hee!

A pair of gloves has ten twiddly bits at the end but we only call them a pair and one is still singular. A pentuplet of glove. A dectuplet of gloves. A couplet! There's three -lets at one go... almost by accidnet and probably made up to boot - which also come in pairs.

Has anyone alrady discussed the use of the word "sheep" as both singular and plural? While I'm at it, is it only us pedants who use the word "octopi"?

Pedants should say octopussy; octopus is not from the Latin

oct is, not pus/ I think it refers to a 8 legged cat

>> "Bull" is a word of a completely different calibre. <<

'Calibre', now there's an interesting word once you realise the 'libre' bit is from the Romance languages and means 'free'.

Then when the gentle rush of intellectual amusement fades after absorbing the full delights of meaning in 'ca-libre' one is ready to explore the deeper Crusader origins of King Arthur's famous 'Ex-ca-liber'.

~jwf~

Can you be full of ruth when you're not ruthless?

Absolutely. Ruth is pity; as in rueing.