Some Odd Plurals in English

"Odd Plurals in English"

Anonymous

(a new take on an old subject)

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, but the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nestfull of mice, yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

(The following are not plural forms, but still interesting)

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does humanitarian eat humanables?

And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if father is Pop, how come mother's not Mop?