Of Boys and Mongooses. Er, mongeese?
Weekends around my house often involve lots of young men on computers and gaming consoles. In the photo below, Asher and Zane are playing (respectively) World of Warcraft and Diablo online. Next to Zane (background) are empty Mountain Dew cans he used to fuel his up-to-5 AM gaming session last night.
Question: Zane was studying Max's arm and claimed that he was "as hairy as a mongoose." This led into a conversation about the word "mongoose" and its proper pluralization. Mongooses? Mongeese?
Solution: Webster online says both plural forms are correct with a preference to "mongooses." The word "mongoose" has a Hindi origin and is not related to the English word "goose."
Just in case it ever comes up in any of your conversations.
Weekends around my house often involve lots of young men on computers and gaming consoles. In the photo below, Asher and Zane are playing (respectively) World of Warcraft and Diablo online. Next to Zane (background) are empty Mountain Dew cans he used to fuel his up-to-5 AM gaming session last night.
Question: Zane was studying Max's arm and claimed that he was "as hairy as a mongoose." This led into a conversation about the word "mongoose" and its proper pluralization. Mongooses? Mongeese?
Solution: Webster online says both plural forms are correct with a preference to "mongooses." The word "mongoose" has a Hindi origin and is not related to the English word "goose."
Just in case it ever comes up in any of your conversations.
Labels: boys, mongeese, mongooses, obscure etymology, video games
posted by Mark Lee at
3:17 PM
2 Comments:
Mongoose story - Someone, long ago in Hawaii, decided the way to rid the islands of rats, was to bring in a predator. After much thought and many uneducated guesses, they chose the mongoose.
Results? Rats are nocturnal. Mongoose diurnal. Lots of rats. Lots of mongooses. Fewer stray cats.
That's a darn good mongoose story, El. And topical too.
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