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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| 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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Avsnitt(965)

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091 Yo as a Pronoun

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090 Went Missing

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087 Used to Versus Use to, and Other Listener Questions

087 Used to Versus Use to, and Other Listener Questions

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084 People Versus Entities

084 People Versus Entities

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16 Nov 20075min

083 Interviewing Tips

083 Interviewing Tips

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082 Daylight-Saving Time

082 Daylight-Saving Time

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078 Formatting Hyperlinks

078 Formatting Hyperlinks

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5 Okt 20074min

077 Verbification of a Noun

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