5 ms·
Because 'milk' is an unmarked plural. 'Chain' is not.
by stolenmerch 8y ago
Because 'milk' is an unmarked plural. 'Chain' is not.
- debacle 8y agoMore importantly, why aren't people talking more about blockmilk technology?
- joshgel 8y agoThere aren't enough edible cereals compatible with blockmilk for mainstream adoption yet.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- zepto 8y agoBlockchain is an unmarked plural
- hannasanarion 8y agoNo it isn't. Nobody says "one blockchain, two blockchain, oh hey look I found a bunch of new blockchain". Blockchain is here being used in reference to the technology itself, not the collection of its manifestations. Just like you might say "how the internal combustion engine works" or "how insertion sort works"
- supersock 8y agoDoes anyone say "here's one water, two waters"?
- chaosphere2112 8y agoWhen ordering at a restaurant, yes.
- jnordwick 8y agoI think that is an example of synecdoche, using a part (the water) to represent the whole (the glass of water).
- CraneWorm 8y ago> [...] words in English often carry a number of different meanings, and these can affect whether a word will be considered countable in one instance compared to another. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Uncountable-Nouns.htm https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Uncountable-Nouns.htm
- monocasa 8y agoWhen they're discrete, yes. Like asking someone "can you grab a couple waters while you're in the kitchen?"
- hannasanarion 8y agoWater is a mass noun, generally used for things indivisible or uncountable. In English, you can tell if a noun is a mass noun if it cannot be used with the indefinite article "a". "*Oh hey look, I found a sand" "Oh hey look, I found a blockchain" It doesn't fail the test, so it must be a count noun. (PS: water is a bad example, because "a water" is a common abbreviation for "a glass of water" that's old enough it's probably lexicalized in a lot of people's heads. "sand", "salt", "bread", "wood", or "rice" are better examples)
- jnordwick 8y agoIt is called a being a mass noun. They are uncountable and the singular takes the same form as the whole. Blockchains are countable, so it does seem to be incorrect to use it as the title does. https://medium.com/@ryanshea/blockchain-terminology-a-grammar-usage-guide-ff54c95167bb https://medium.com/@ryanshea/blockchain-terminology-a-gramma... (It grates on my ears to hear blockchain used the way it is here. I'm not sure when it started, but certainly doesn't sound like it should.)