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General Category => Words => Topic started by: ridethetalk on January 26, 2023, 10:28:33 AM

Title: Tuesday 24 January 7-by-many PITUITARY puzzle
Post by: ridethetalk on January 26, 2023, 10:28:33 AM

PAPYRI – can I request that this be made rare, please??? Google ngram viewer shows it as having a frequency of use below 0.0000500% IMHO not very common…

Title: Re: Tuesday 24 January 7-by-many PITUITARY puzzle
Post by: Alan W on February 13, 2023, 11:21:14 AM

I don't doubt that papyri should be rare, but that raises the question of papyrus and papyruses, both currently classed as common. I think the singular word is reasonably well-known, and can remain as common. However the alternative plural form, papyruses, is actually used much less often than papyri (and is queried by my spell checker, unlike papyri.). I suppose the thing is that we mainly think of papyrus as meaning a material - a word that doesn't take a plural. Papyrus meaning a scroll or document on that material is a more technical usage of the word. So I'll reclassify both papyri and papyruses to rare status.

Title: Re: Tuesday 24 January 7-by-many PITUITARY puzzle
Post by: ridethetalk on February 13, 2023, 01:47:50 PM

Thanks Alan...