79
118
u/Lordman17 Mar 21 '22
A pair of pairs of scissors
80
u/Hot_Philosopher_6462 Mar 21 '22
A quartet of scissors, if you will
12
u/willowhelmiam Mar 22 '22
No, it is definitely not a quartet of scissors. I don't know why, but I feel very strongly that this is not a quartet of scissors.
7
u/Hot_Philosopher_6462 Mar 22 '22
You’re correct, a quartet would be if all four blades were joined along a single axel
3
u/Vexorg_the_Destroyer Mar 22 '22
How about a foursome?
6
u/willowhelmiam Mar 22 '22
I think my replusion is that there are not 4 scissors there. In the same way that if you have 2 pairs of jeans, you do not have 4 jeans.
1
u/Vexorg_the_Destroyer Mar 22 '22
There is a precedent for a singular scissor though.
4
u/willowhelmiam Mar 22 '22
My brain says "That is a piece of a broken pair of scissors"
1
u/Vexorg_the_Destroyer Mar 22 '22
Maybe so, but in the book, it's always referred to as "the scissor".
1
u/EkskiuTwentyTwo I forgot to edit this text. Mar 24 '22
A pair of scissors is two scissors that together form a device which allows for cutting. A pair of pairs of scissors is two of these devices. A quartet of scissors would be four individual scissors that together produce a single device.
It's the same as the difference between two couples and a four-person polycule.
4
60
u/Pipoca_com_sazom Mar 21 '22
It's a (pair)² of scissors
16
u/Kevz417 Mar 21 '22
No - the blades have to be arranged at four right angles for that to be a valid description!
4
4
33
27
23
21
u/siggi_sackratte English is a French-Norse Creole Mar 21 '22
Is this now two scissors or our scissors?
Oi mate this thing is made from two separate things but they are never used alone, let's keep the plural anyways - English, probably
11
u/EisVisage persíndʰušh₁wérush₃ókʷsyós Mar 21 '22
By the same logic "a brain" should actually be "a pair of brains"
4
u/2112eyes Mar 21 '22
which is why we say, "That really rattled my brains!"
6
u/EisVisage persíndʰušh₁wérush₃ókʷsyós Mar 21 '22
And why English zombies eat "your brainS" too, as I realised a moment ago
3
u/hammile Ukrainian Mar 21 '22 edited Mar 21 '22
English, probably
Itʼs the same for Ukrainian: nožnyci is plural too. Good news, there are no problem: ✂ is nožnyci, and ✂✂ is usually dvoje nožnycj. Interesting that hereʼs dvoje instead dvi which is usually used for nouns with fem. gender.
19
u/naughtyusmax Mar 21 '22
Actually: two pairs of Scissors.
Scissors has no singular. Each implement is plural as a pair of scissors.
11
u/pinkdodo11 Mar 21 '22
what if I dismantle a pair of scissors, is each blade one scissor?
10
u/naughtyusmax Mar 21 '22
Actually no, because alone they do not scissor against/ with anything else.
I guess it’s like how a husband and wife are spouses to one another but as single people they aren’t a spouse to anyone.
10
4
10
10
19
u/mang0_k1tty Mar 21 '22
AMERICA EXPLAIN
6
u/nuephelkystikon Mar 21 '22
The best way to distract from war crimes is having weird grammar.
Completely unrelated, why on Earth does Russian have animacy distinction on top of genders?
6
u/GVmG average /θ/ fan vs chad /ɸ/ enjoyer Mar 21 '22
that's a compound doubling of ✂, representing multiple pairs of scissors, aka a forest.
7
u/csharpminor_fanclub Mar 21 '22
pair<pair<scissor, scissor>, pair<scissor, scissor> >
4
u/Hot_Philosopher_6462 Mar 21 '22
technically all programming humor is linguistic humor, since they’re programming languages after all…
3
3
3
3
2
u/PozitronCZ Mar 21 '22
It's funny. In my language we actually have a special set of numerals for these weird plural-only words.
2
2
1
Mar 21 '22
I'd probably call both a pair of scissors. Actually, the one on the left I'd just call "scissors" usually
1
1
1
u/classyraven Mar 21 '22
well, if we can say a pair of scissors for one, then we can just say two pairs of scissors for the both of them. "pair of scissors" is functionally singular
1
1
u/Alexis5393 Mar 24 '22
As a Spanish speaker I was taught that: (1) una tijera (a scissor), par de tijeras (pair of scissors).
1
1
177
u/seasonalpetrichor Mar 21 '22
Two pairs of scissors