Why the heck does 'score' mean 20? How we subconsciously know how to pronounce different plurals.

Why the heck does 'score' mean 20? How we subconsciously know how to pronounce different plurals.

929. While we were looking into why we use the word "score" to mean "twenty," our minds were blown by how many languages still have remnants of a base-20 counting system. And then we learned the secret rules that explain why some plurals end with an "s" sound and others end with a "z" sound. It was quite a week!

| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/score-dogz/transcript

| The "score" segment was written by Susan K. Herman, a retired U.S. Government multidisciplined language analyst, analytic editor, and language instructor.

| The "Cats and Dogz" segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." You can find her at valeriefridland.com

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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

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| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

  • Audio engineer: Nathan Semes
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| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

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Episoder(967)

065 Regionalisms

065 Regionalisms

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29 Jun 20077min

064 Between You and Me

064 Between You and Me

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26 Jun 20074min

056 Generating Story Ideas and Overcoming Writer's Block

056 Generating Story Ideas and Overcoming Writer's Block

Generating Story Ideas and Overcoming Writer's Block Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

22 Mai 20078min

055 Misplaced Modifiers

055 Misplaced Modifiers

Misplaced Modifiers Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

18 Mai 20076min

048 April Fools' Day Episode

048 April Fools' Day Episode

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1 Apr 20074min

266 When Should You Capitalize Cocktail and Food Names?

266 When Should You Capitalize Cocktail and Food Names?

When Should You Capitalize Cocktail and Food Names? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

11 Mar 20074min

042 Semicolons

042 Semicolons

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21 Feb 20076min

036 Grammar Manners

036 Grammar Manners

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12 Jan 20074min

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