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[OM] Re: Flash Q and minor rant

Subject: [OM] Re: Flash Q and minor rant
From: hiwayman@xxxxxxx (Walt Wayman)
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 16:02:54 +0000
Piers has nailed it down.  I'll countersink the nail head.

In the phrase "fifty cent piece," the words "fifty" and "cent" together 
constitute a compound adjective, which the more persnickety of us insist should 
be hyphenated, as in, "A fifty-cent piece is worth fifty cents."

"Cent" is like "gallon," "pound," "dollar," and the like.

We all know that a blivet is nine POUNDS of s**t in a five-POUND sack.

We would say, "He was wearing a ten-GALLON hat while he pumped ten GALLONS of 
gas into his SUV."

"I was fined fifty DOLLARS for propositioning an undercover lady cop I thought 
was a fifty-DOLLAR hooker."

And so it goes.

Walt, who usually gets 38 exposures on a 36-exposure roll.

--
"Anything more than 500 yards from 
the car just isn't photogenic." -- 
Edward Weston

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Piers Hemy" <piers@xxxxxxxx>
> 
> OK, I'll bite.
> 
> You are both at least partially correct, but you are talking about different
> animals.
> 
> In the phrase "fifty cents" 'cents' is a plural noun, just as 'dollars' in
> "worth fifty dollars".
> 
> In the phrase "fifty cent stamp" 'fifty cent' is adjectival, describing the
> stamp, just as 'fifty dollar' dscribes the bill in "fifty dollar bill".  
> 
> As to whether the plural of 'penny' is 'pennies' or 'pence' - I think it is
> a question of context.  A defined number of them would require 'pence',
> whereas an indeterminate amount, or a context in which you emphasise that
> there aren't many of them, or emphasise the coins themselves rather than
> their worth, would require 'pennies'.  "I had thirty five pence to spend"
> compared to "I had barely two pennies to rub together"
> 
> But cent as the plural of cent?  Not over here!  But then, we don't have any
> cents over here.
> 
> HTH!
> 
> --
> Piers 
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Moose
> Sent: 24 November 2004 10:31
> To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [OM] Re: Flash Q and minor rant
> 
> Andrew Fildes wrote:
> 
> >As the convention (I checked with all of them by phone) is that the 
> >plural of cent is cent - as in fifty cent stamp - then the possessive 
> >is cent's. No?
> >Sheepishly,
> >
> At least here in the states, there are still a few things that cost 50
> cents, such as the stamp you mention. If I pay for one with a dollar, my
> change is 50 cents. A fifty dollar bill is by definition worth fifty
> dollars. I'll leave it to a language scholar to define the difference
> between the two forms of usage.
> 
> Moose
> 
>
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