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Pedants' corner

plurals of words ending with 'o'.

(21 Posts)
Fennel Thu 28-Apr-22 17:58:59

I can never remember how to spell plurals of words like
potato
tomato
avacado
and others -?chorizo etc.
Is there a general rule? It's when writing a shopping list so not really important but I'm a bit of a pedant on this.

Pantglas2 Thu 28-Apr-22 18:02:28

Oes on the first three but just an ‘s’ on chorizo (as it’s a Spanish word)

Esspee Thu 28-Apr-22 18:10:17

Avocados is the plural of avocado.
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Chorizos

Try typing anything you are unsure of, the plural usually shows on your predictive text

grandtanteJE65 Thu 28-Apr-22 18:37:17

It is illogically isn't it? Older words like potato and tomato become potatoes and tomatoes, perhaps because we pronounce the o at the end of them as o, If we just added s they should be pronouced as potatus or potataws. Choriszo should alway have the closed o, as Spanish rarely uses the open o.

And saying this makes nonsens of advocados, which most of us call advocadoes when we say the word!

MawtheMerrier Thu 28-Apr-22 18:52:02

I certainly don’t say advocado as the word is avocado

Callistemon21 Thu 28-Apr-22 19:34:35

Known as avos in Australia ?

Avo Ale, Avo cake

Callistemon21 Thu 28-Apr-22 19:35:10

Or: I'm having Avo cake this arvo

Fennel Thu 28-Apr-22 23:10:00

grin thanks . Do you remember the song - "I say potatos, you say potatahtos"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQWbqeYsqp8say tomatos"

Esspee Fri 29-Apr-22 06:30:14

Avocados are Zabocas in the Caribbean.

argymargy Fri 29-Apr-22 07:18:47

Surely every word ending with a vowel needs an apostrophe before the s…? (Sorry)

M0nica Fri 29-Apr-22 07:36:44

No, the apostrophe means possesssion.

Tomato, Tomatoes, the tomato's flavour (flavour of the tomato)

nanna8 Fri 29-Apr-22 07:40:32

Avos are cheap just now so we are using them instead of butter for lunch rolls.

argymargy Fri 29-Apr-22 07:43:50

Oh please M0nica - it was a joke!!

Lucca Fri 29-Apr-22 08:02:47

argymargy

Oh please M0nica - it was a joke!!

?. I’ve seen a café advertising “tea’s”……

Lucca Fri 29-Apr-22 08:03:43

MawtheMerrier

I certainly don’t say advocado as the word is avocado

I have a friend who calls them advocados! She’s so nice I haven’t the heart to correct her.

MaizieD Fri 29-Apr-22 08:19:06

nanna8

Avos are cheap just now so we are using them instead of butter for lunch rolls.

My Jamaican grandmother said they called them poor man's butter. They grow on massive trees all over the island.

Avocados are Zabocas in the Caribbean

She called them avocados. Must have been from the wrong part of the Caribbean...

Grantanow Fri 29-Apr-22 11:15:25

Could be a fiasco!

NotSpaghetti Fri 29-Apr-22 11:26:54

As this is pendants' corner, I suppose we might like to consider tomato's as signifying a missing letter M0nica ??

Callistemon21 Fri 29-Apr-22 11:27:30

nanna8

Avos are cheap just now so we are using them instead of butter for lunch rolls.

So cheap that farmers are having to dump some, there must be a glut.
I have a recipe for avocado cake

Please ship some over here ?

Callistemon21 Fri 29-Apr-22 11:29:09

Avocado AKA alligator pear!

Esspee Fri 29-Apr-22 17:57:01

It is a very important weaning food in the Caribbean and yes, as mentioned above is referred to as poor man’s butter.
I had a tree in my garden. The fruit was about the size of a large grapefruit (if you squeezed it into a pear shape) but other varieties are closer in size to a medium butternut squash. In other words HUGE.
Slice thinly and layer over toast, squeeze lemon or lime juice over it, sprinkle with garlic salt and ground black pepper, cover with snipped spring onions or red onion then top with poached egg. A breakfast for kings.