Monday, March 17, 2008

Why, oh why...

Is it goose/geese and not moose/meese???



I have wondered this for many years but have never gotten a good answer Is there one?

Whomever can answer this question to my liking gets a big prize (to be handed out by Dad)

6 comments:

Regi said...

Well..sheep aren't "sheeps." I think it's like the same thing. Or i think Elk is just Elk, not Elks. Cause it can be a singular or a collective noun...there..that's my answer and I am sticking to it.

Anonymous said...

You are so funny! I shouldn't be surprised that you put that one your blog. :-)

LJL said...

Well, I will put this to rest so I don't have to give out the "big Prize" to anyone. The term "goose" comes from the Albanian word "gaeus", meaning "a bird with webbed feet". There are no plurals in Albania, so when Benjamin Franklin domesticated the bird by training several of them to be servants in his house his main maid called them geese because she couldn't pronounce the word properly. Now, moose are native to Manitoba and when a man named Clifford Whiteford discovered a large animal grazing in his garden in 1811, he was actually having tea with Benjamin Franklin, because they were buddies. Clifford stated that he had never seen so large of an animal in his life and Ben said that something that large should only be thought of in the singular, sort of like the Stanford athletic teams being known only as the "Cardinal" not the "Cardinals". I hope this explanation clears it up for you, and you don't have to solicit other answers which would only serve to muddy the waters! Thank you for your time. Father

LJL said...

So when do I get my big prize for clearing up the controversy over moose/meese goose/geese louse/lice mouse/mice house/hice octopus/octopi hippopotamus/hippopotami deer/deer sheep/sheep ???? huh? huh? huh? when??

Dani said...

So where did you get that explaination...exactly..did you google it or something? It dont make a lick of sense!

LJL said...

Well, of course, it doesn't make any sense. I made up the entire thing!