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As an aside, I with Americans would stop using _legos_ as the plural. (Most of) the rest of the world uses _lego_ as a mass noun. The company itself insists th
by microtonal 2y ago
As an aside, I with Americans would stop using _legos_ as the plural. (Most of) the rest of the world uses _lego_ as a mass noun.
The company itself insists though that it should only be used as an adjective :D:
https://x.com/LEGO_Group/status/1359856214591627269?lang=en https://x.com/LEGO_Group/status/1359856214591627269?lang=en
- chasing 2y agoNot Legos or Lego: LEGO. All caps. For example: https://www.serious.global/LEGO-SERIOUS-PLAY-Trademark-Guidelines-2017.pdf https://www.serious.global/LEGO-SERIOUS-PLAY-Trademark-Guide... (It also says when you speak the word you're supposed to shout it as if you're scaring off birds. If you look down there on page 11.) Danes are weird.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Svip 2y agoIn Danish, they are called »legoklodser« (i.e. Lego bricks); seldom is the word capitalised.
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoYep. It's a brand style thing probably so they can trademark it. PS: I had the pleasure of having eusocial Danish neighbors growing up. The guy worked for Spectra-Physics as a laser technician and drove a Wankel '81 Mazda RX-7 that I could hear revving away towards work every morning.
- somnic 2y agoI'm curious how you're using the word "eusocial" here, because I've only heard it used to describe the structure of bee or ant (or naked mole rat) colonies.
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoReally social, never bothered by anything, absurdly friendly, and cool peeps. And, of course, Scandinavian furniture and always smoking weed. :o) Stipulative definitions since meanings of words vary from person-to-person: "Eusocial" to me means "prone to socializing". "Prosocial" to me means "aware of the interests of the group and seeks to positive contributions to the groups and individuals." "Asocial" to me means "neural or indifferent towards others." "Antisocial" to me has multiple meanings either "avoids people", "doesn't get along with people", or "is indifferent to or against the interests of others".
- RCitronsBroker 2y agoMF LEGO, all caps
- kawsper 2y ago> If you look down there on page 11. There's only 8 pages in the linked PDF.
- weinzierl 2y agoThis and Visas always make my heart skip a beat.
- silisili 2y agoExercise in futility. We like our S's. I don't know a single person in the Midwest who doesn't say Meijers and Krogers, despite neither having an S in their name.
- rjh29 2y agosame in the UK actually. The supermarkets Tesco, Aldi and Lidl are frequently pronounced as Tescos, Aldis and Lidls.
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoPerhaps were pronouncing them as a hyphenated possession rather than a plural.
- switch007 2y agoRight. Sainsbury's was the leading supermarket of most of the 20th century and probably influenced the way we refer to all of them (It's Sainsbury's because it was John Sainsbury's shop)
- twixfel 2y agoThat is different. For example “Lidls” is actually “Lidl’s”, which is not plural and grammatically correct. Same as saying “I’m going to the doctor’s”.
- mattmanser 2y agoThat's not the same. That's a possessive s, so it's Tesco's. As in "we're going to Tesco's" or "I'm just nipping down to Aldi's". Not Tescos or Aldis. We effectively drop the word 'store'. So it's a shortened form of "I'm nipping to the Tesco's store". The 's indicates that Tesco owns the store. We use the same phrases when going to someone's house, as in "I'm going to Sarah's" which is a shortened form of "I'm going to Sarah's house". We don't use an s in Lego, so we use Lego like Europe, not Legos. Edit: My partner just pointed out there are some exceptions (and weird ones). Asda is a store like Aldi or Tesco, but we say "I'm going to Asda". But that could be an artifact of their marketing jingles or perhaps because it is originally an abbreviation of Associated Diaries which already has an s. We also have a pharmacy chain called Boots, and it's "we going to Boots" not 'we're going to Boots' ".
- euroderf 2y agoIf we're going to be really American and overuse caps, shouldn't we also be sticking in all kinds of unnecessary periods? Like: L.E.G.O. Then someone can set about to backform the phrase being acronymed.
- Svip 2y agoJust for the record, the name "Lego" comes from »leg godt« which means to play well. The earliest toys from Lego were not the iconic bricks we know today.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dumbo-octopus 2y agoLEGOs Engender Genius Offspring! (supposedly)
- euroderf 2y agoLego Enables Garish Objects ?
- mikae1 2y ago> If we're going to be really American It's Danish though :-)
- aerophilic 2y agoThey insist likely due to the “Kleenex” effect. Couldn’t find a good reference, but once an item becomes generic, it can loose copyright. Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/smarter-living/how-a-brand-name-becomes-generic.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/smarter-living/how-a-bran...
- bigstrat2003 2y agoNot copyright, trademark. Two very different things, with very different laws.
- zuminator 2y agoSure, gp misspoke in saying "copyright" but correctly linked to a relevant article about trademarks and was correct in the sentiment that owners of widely used brand names need to be vigilant about their intellectual property.
- elsjaako 2y agoYou can find a reference by looking for "generic trademark"
- bigstrat2003 2y agoIf anything, the insistence of the Lego company ensures that I won't ever say it that way. I'm not here to protect their trademark, and I resent them trying to cajole me into it.
- dancek 2y agoIn Finnish (spoken in another Nordic country) it's plural "legoja" / "legot", with the singular only used as attribute, e.g. "legoukkeli". It's been this way at least since the 80s.
- thih9 2y agoLegos makes sense for me as a short form of “different boxes of lego”. Similarly I’d be fine with e.g. “plant milks”, “kinetic sands”, etc.
- Scaevolus 2y agoEnglish has a small, shrinking set of irregular plurals, and new loan words don't deserve special consideration, much less foreign loan word brands. Octopuses. Indexes. Legos.