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I was watching an episode of Monk (S03E12), and in the first few minutes, the detective asks his assistant "Do you have a pliers?" That immediately struck me as weird, but later, towards the end of the episode, he makes the comment "This was cut with a scissors." The only place I've ever seen 'a scissors' was in old Peanuts cartoons, and I've never ever heard 'a pliers', but I guess it could make sense in a way.

I grew up saying a pair of scissors or pliers, which is weird in its own way, since it's a single object. I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever heard these terms.

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[-] can@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago

I guess he wears a pants too?

[-] OpticalMoose@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

I know, right? I guess I should just chalk it up to "That's just English being English."

I don't know if all English is this bad or just something we Americans do.

[-] octoperson@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

Monk's schtick is that he's a bit of a misfit. It could be that the writers intentionally had him use the words 'wrong' as a character bit.

[-] MassRedundancy@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago
[-] octoperson@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Your comment comes up blank. Lemmy bug?

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

Definitely heard it before. It's not right or common, but I know people used to say it in elementary school, teachers and some students.

[-] charonn0@startrek.website 4 points 1 year ago

The only place I’ve ever seen ‘a scissors’ was in old Peanuts cartoons

I was going to say the same thing. It was so unusual that I specifically remember it after 30+ years.

[-] BitSound@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I've heard both "a scissors" and "a pliers", but never "a pants" or "a glasses". If pressed, I don't think anybody would object to the proper term being "a pair of". Since you mention Peanuts, maybe it's a Midwest thing, since Charles Schulz grew up in Minnesota.

[-] OpticalMoose@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

maybe it’s a Midwest thing

That could be it. I guess in the TV show, the writers are trying to show that Monk is an old fashioned guy who uses outdated terms.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Why more words, when few words better?

Most people just leave out the useless and awkward ‘a’.

— “Do you have pliers?”

— “This was cut with scissors.”

Yes, I’m wearing pants and glasses

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

No, those are all plural.

Why are we counting individual pieces of the scissors? Who knows.

this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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