Something I read in a book...

Everyone has a favourite book, and in that book there is always something you remember, maybe the cover, maybe the ending, maybe you were just glad to finish it and put it down! Here, we find out what you read in a book...

Why aren't Mongooses, Mongeese?
By Prof. Mark Viney, Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UG

Irregular plurals (where the plural rule “to add an S” isn’t used) have to be learnt. We have all learnt these, so we can pluralize man to men, mouse to mice, goose to geese. We can also use these irregular plurals in compound words, so that we get policemen and house mice. Why then, Mongooses?

This book I read*, argued that we only use the irregular plural for compound words (policeman), when that compound word is of the same nature as the root word (man). Thus, a policeman is a type of man, a house mouse is a type of mouse. But, a Mongoose isn’t a type of goose, and so we don’t use the irregular plural, but rather use the regular plural rule ‘add an S’. So, Mongooses are not Mongeese. This book also suggests, that this applies to what we hold in our hands most of the time - the computer mouse. Because these bits of plastic are not a type of mouse we often call groups of them mouses - try it.

*[Steven Pinker, Words and Rules, Basic Books, 1st edition, 1999]

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