6 ms·

Wait until you guys see the prices for the "AAFES POGS" on ebay ... Basically while you can use cash, coins are too heavy to justify shipping into country. AAF

Wait until you guys see the prices for the "AAFES POGS" on ebay ... Basically while you can use cash, coins are too heavy to justify shipping into country. AAFES instead prints "gift certificates" in the shape of a pog, in 0.05, 0.10, 0.25 denominations. The resale value on these is hilariously high ... these are federally issued mediums of exchange being currency except in name only. And only useable in deployed locations.

gioscarab 6y ago
The word medium comes from latin, its plural is "media", not "mediums".
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Retric 6y ago
  While some sources agree with you: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/mediums https://www.thefreedictionary.com/mediums Both Media and Mediums are plural forms in common usage. Thus: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mediums https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mediums has mediums variants: or media plural of medium ex: https://www.uspto.gov/kids/MiddleSchool-HowWellSoundTravels.pdf https://www.uspto.gov/kids/MiddleSchool-HowWellSoundTravels.... And really, English just evolves over time so these kind of rules don’t actually mean anything.
  - gioscarab 6y ago
    Here in Italy (that is where the word was invented in the first place) that is considered a bad common mistake. Forgetting about the etymology or misusing a word is not what I would define as "evolution". We say multi-media, mass-media ecc. for a reason, for the same reason we don't say multi-mediums or mass-mediums.
    - Retric 6y ago
      That’s the thing, in English when enough people make a mistake it stops being a mistake.
    - gpderetta 6y ago
      To be pedantic, the correct grammatical rule in italian is that foregin words (including latin) are kept invariant between singular and plural, so the plural of medium would still be medium. This rule is of course often misapplied, especially for latin words.
  - err4nt 6y ago
    Though English has two plural forms "media" and "mediums", are they interchangeable? If you say "media" I think of more than one medium of communication, but if you say "mediums" I think of a group of humans who engage in necromancy and talking to spirits and stuff (being a medium as a job)
    - Retric 6y ago
      I believe it’s context specific. Both are in common use in acoustics or bacterial cultures, but it’s electronic media and spirit mediums.
- howlgarnish 6y ago
  The word "media" has become shorthand for "communications media". While correct in the original Latin, trying to use "media" as the plural for "medium" in any other context in English is jarring.
  - gioscarab 6y ago
    The word medium identifies a mean of communication. The commenter uses it to identify a mean of exchanging value. IMHO the word was both misused and misspelled.
    - howlgarnish 6y ago
      "Medium of exchange" is standard terminology in economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_of_exchange https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_of_exchange
      - gioscarab 6y ago
        You are right! So just misspelled :)
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - Youden 6y ago
    That's just one context. "Media" and "medium" are common in other situations. For example: - "A hard drive is one of the many storage media available for computers.", "Blu-ray is an optical storage medium". - "This work of art is mixed-media", "the medium for this work is acrylic on canvas".
- AndriyKunitsyn 6y ago
  I’m ESL, how far should the “thou should pluralize a loanword as it was in the original language” rule go? It seems to be not universal. I mean, it’s “hamburgers”, not “die Hamburger”, “robots”, not “roboti”, and “rubles”, not “rubli”/“рубли”.
  - ouchjars 6y ago
    Borrowed plural forms are most likely to happen with French, Latin, and Greek loans, and also those from languages that don't change words to make them plural, e.g. Japanese and Maori. Sometimes it happens with other languages, like the use of Hebrew plural rules for cherub/cherubim, but there's the best approximation.
    - majewsky 6y ago
      > Sometimes it happens with other languages, like the use of Hebrew plural rules for cherub/cherubim For what it's worth, the few times I've seen the plural of cherub in the English language (mostly in song lyrics), it was always "cherubs", not "cherubim". Not saying the latter wouldn't be acceptable: Wiktionary lists both.
  - spindle 6y ago
    Right! I especially like your Russian example. There is no general rule. Life sucks.
  - unscaled 6y ago
    This is mostly relegated to Latin and some Greek plurals: Latin: stimulus/stimuli, fungus/fungi (2nd declension masculine) medium/media (2nd declension neuter) alga/algae, larva/larvae (1st declension) index/indices (3rd declension) Greek: phenomenon/phenomena, criterion/criteria (2nd declension neuter) analysis/analyses (3rd declension, I think proper Greek and Latin would actually be 'analyseis') Latin and Greek were the classical languages that were expected to be spoken by the educated upper class in 19th century Anglo-Saxon world (the British Empire and the US). Most of the present day language conventions we have were gradually developed throughout the 17th to 19th centuries, as a result of print becoming established. Before that, English spelling varied greatly from text to text and the even the English plural themselves were determined by the writer's dialect, as in this example by William Caxton (England's first printer) in 1490 (in modernized spelling): In modern spelling: "And specially he asked after 'egges'. And the good wife answered that she could speak no French. And the merchant was angry for he also could speak no French, but would have had 'egges' and she understood him not. And then at least another said that he would have 'eyren'. Then the good ife said she understood him well. The original splling was[1]: "And specyally he axyed after eggys. And the good wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry for he also coude speke no frenshe but wold haue hadde egges and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he wolde haue eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understood hym we." During the period of standardization, it was the educated class I mentioned before that influenced spelling the most. Up to the 19th century they were expected to have a good grasp of Latin (and sometimes Greek) grammar, which is why "Grammar Schools" existed (originally meant to teach Latin grammar). Latin remained a requirement in some Elite schools and universities (like Oxford and Cambridge) well into the mid 20th century. This explains why the standard setters were quite pedantic about pluralizing Latin (and sometimes Greek) nouns correctly, but gave themselves a free hand in mutilating plurals (and even the words themselves) in other languages. Since most of the educated upper class didn't know Ancient Greek as well as Latin, you find that Greek plural usage is not as systemic as Latin. That's why we're missing the first declension (we do not pluralize catastrophe as catastrophai, we say dogmas and not dogmata, atlases and not atlantes) and second declension masculine (cosmos is pluralized as cosmoses, not cosmoi). On the other hand, the high classes in the 19th century often spoke French and Italian, which is why it used to be fashionable to have some pluralizations such as -eau/eaux (bureau/bureaux) and -o/i (virtuoso/virtuosi). I feel like this is not so faddish anymore. It's also important to note that the words we're covering here are _learned words_ - which are more influenced by elitist tendencies, since they first appear in print in academic publications and newspapers, before finding their way into everyday speech (if at all). Early borrowed words from Latin that have long become colloquial by then like wine (vinum/vina), pillow (pulivnus/pulvini) dish (discus/disci) and pound (pondus/pondera) don't even much the Latin singular form and are sometimes barely recognizable. tl;dr: The explanation has to do mostly with elitist tendencies and the particular languages the elite during the time of standardization knew well and happened to care about. There are many exceptions. The best rule of thumb is that learned Latin words are mostly pluralized as in Latin, Greek words are pluralized as in Greek only with certain suffixes (-on/a and -sis/ses) and very rarely with any other language. The second rule of thumb to remember is that once a Latin or Greek word becomes colloquial, the foreign plural is often used in conjunction with a native English plural or becomes abandoned completely. To use medium as an example: Academic usage: * means of communication (media) - 'mass medium' is almost always pluralized 'mass media' * material conductor (e.g. air as medium) - usually 'media' Colloquial usage: * average, in the middle - usually mediums * someone who communicates with spirits and ghosts - always mediums [1] https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126611.html https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126611.html
bananapear 6y ago
> in the shape of a pog In case you are wondering what a "pog" is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game)
- nefitty 6y ago
  Something I never intended to learn: “pog” is an acronym for “passion fruit - orange - guava”.
- cracksmoka420 6y ago
  Person Other (than) Grunt

gioscarab 6y ago

The word medium comes from latin, its plural is "media", not "mediums".

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Retric 6y ago
While some sources agree with you: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/mediums https://www.thefreedictionary.com/mediums Both Media and Mediums are plural forms in common usage. Thus: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mediums https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mediums has mediums variants: or media plural of medium ex: https://www.uspto.gov/kids/MiddleSchool-HowWellSoundTravels.pdf https://www.uspto.gov/kids/MiddleSchool-HowWellSoundTravels.... And really, English just evolves over time so these kind of rules don’t actually mean anything.
- gioscarab 6y ago
  Here in Italy (that is where the word was invented in the first place) that is considered a bad common mistake. Forgetting about the etymology or misusing a word is not what I would define as "evolution". We say multi-media, mass-media ecc. for a reason, for the same reason we don't say multi-mediums or mass-mediums.
  - Retric 6y ago
    That’s the thing, in English when enough people make a mistake it stops being a mistake.
  - gpderetta 6y ago
    To be pedantic, the correct grammatical rule in italian is that foregin words (including latin) are kept invariant between singular and plural, so the plural of medium would still be medium. This rule is of course often misapplied, especially for latin words.
- err4nt 6y ago
  Though English has two plural forms "media" and "mediums", are they interchangeable? If you say "media" I think of more than one medium of communication, but if you say "mediums" I think of a group of humans who engage in necromancy and talking to spirits and stuff (being a medium as a job)
  - Retric 6y ago
    I believe it’s context specific. Both are in common use in acoustics or bacterial cultures, but it’s electronic media and spirit mediums.
howlgarnish 6y ago
The word "media" has become shorthand for "communications media". While correct in the original Latin, trying to use "media" as the plural for "medium" in any other context in English is jarring.
- gioscarab 6y ago
  The word medium identifies a mean of communication. The commenter uses it to identify a mean of exchanging value. IMHO the word was both misused and misspelled.
  - howlgarnish 6y ago
    "Medium of exchange" is standard terminology in economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_of_exchange https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_of_exchange
    - gioscarab 6y ago
      You are right! So just misspelled :)
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
- Youden 6y ago
  That's just one context. "Media" and "medium" are common in other situations. For example: - "A hard drive is one of the many storage media available for computers.", "Blu-ray is an optical storage medium". - "This work of art is mixed-media", "the medium for this work is acrylic on canvas".
AndriyKunitsyn 6y ago
I’m ESL, how far should the “thou should pluralize a loanword as it was in the original language” rule go? It seems to be not universal. I mean, it’s “hamburgers”, not “die Hamburger”, “robots”, not “roboti”, and “rubles”, not “rubli”/“рубли”.
- ouchjars 6y ago
  Borrowed plural forms are most likely to happen with French, Latin, and Greek loans, and also those from languages that don't change words to make them plural, e.g. Japanese and Maori. Sometimes it happens with other languages, like the use of Hebrew plural rules for cherub/cherubim, but there's the best approximation.
  - majewsky 6y ago
    > Sometimes it happens with other languages, like the use of Hebrew plural rules for cherub/cherubim For what it's worth, the few times I've seen the plural of cherub in the English language (mostly in song lyrics), it was always "cherubs", not "cherubim". Not saying the latter wouldn't be acceptable: Wiktionary lists both.
- spindle 6y ago
  Right! I especially like your Russian example. There is no general rule. Life sucks.
- unscaled 6y ago
  This is mostly relegated to Latin and some Greek plurals: Latin: stimulus/stimuli, fungus/fungi (2nd declension masculine) medium/media (2nd declension neuter) alga/algae, larva/larvae (1st declension) index/indices (3rd declension) Greek: phenomenon/phenomena, criterion/criteria (2nd declension neuter) analysis/analyses (3rd declension, I think proper Greek and Latin would actually be 'analyseis') Latin and Greek were the classical languages that were expected to be spoken by the educated upper class in 19th century Anglo-Saxon world (the British Empire and the US). Most of the present day language conventions we have were gradually developed throughout the 17th to 19th centuries, as a result of print becoming established. Before that, English spelling varied greatly from text to text and the even the English plural themselves were determined by the writer's dialect, as in this example by William Caxton (England's first printer) in 1490 (in modernized spelling): In modern spelling: "And specially he asked after 'egges'. And the good wife answered that she could speak no French. And the merchant was angry for he also could speak no French, but would have had 'egges' and she understood him not. And then at least another said that he would have 'eyren'. Then the good ife said she understood him well. The original splling was[1]: "And specyally he axyed after eggys. And the good wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry for he also coude speke no frenshe but wold haue hadde egges and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he wolde haue eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understood hym we." During the period of standardization, it was the educated class I mentioned before that influenced spelling the most. Up to the 19th century they were expected to have a good grasp of Latin (and sometimes Greek) grammar, which is why "Grammar Schools" existed (originally meant to teach Latin grammar). Latin remained a requirement in some Elite schools and universities (like Oxford and Cambridge) well into the mid 20th century. This explains why the standard setters were quite pedantic about pluralizing Latin (and sometimes Greek) nouns correctly, but gave themselves a free hand in mutilating plurals (and even the words themselves) in other languages. Since most of the educated upper class didn't know Ancient Greek as well as Latin, you find that Greek plural usage is not as systemic as Latin. That's why we're missing the first declension (we do not pluralize catastrophe as catastrophai, we say dogmas and not dogmata, atlases and not atlantes) and second declension masculine (cosmos is pluralized as cosmoses, not cosmoi). On the other hand, the high classes in the 19th century often spoke French and Italian, which is why it used to be fashionable to have some pluralizations such as -eau/eaux (bureau/bureaux) and -o/i (virtuoso/virtuosi). I feel like this is not so faddish anymore. It's also important to note that the words we're covering here are _learned words_ - which are more influenced by elitist tendencies, since they first appear in print in academic publications and newspapers, before finding their way into everyday speech (if at all). Early borrowed words from Latin that have long become colloquial by then like wine (vinum/vina), pillow (pulivnus/pulvini) dish (discus/disci) and pound (pondus/pondera) don't even much the Latin singular form and are sometimes barely recognizable. tl;dr: The explanation has to do mostly with elitist tendencies and the particular languages the elite during the time of standardization knew well and happened to care about. There are many exceptions. The best rule of thumb is that learned Latin words are mostly pluralized as in Latin, Greek words are pluralized as in Greek only with certain suffixes (-on/a and -sis/ses) and very rarely with any other language. The second rule of thumb to remember is that once a Latin or Greek word becomes colloquial, the foreign plural is often used in conjunction with a native English plural or becomes abandoned completely. To use medium as an example: Academic usage: * means of communication (media) - 'mass medium' is almost always pluralized 'mass media' * material conductor (e.g. air as medium) - usually 'media' Colloquial usage: * average, in the middle - usually mediums * someone who communicates with spirits and ghosts - always mediums [1] https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126611.html https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126611.html

bananapear 6y ago

> in the shape of a pog In case you are wondering what a "pog" is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game)

nefitty 6y ago
Something I never intended to learn: “pog” is an acronym for “passion fruit - orange - guava”.
cracksmoka420 6y ago
Person Other (than) Grunt