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Mon 1 Aug, 2005 11:30 am
This has been bothering me for some time. I see many signs in Los Angeles for teeth whitening procedures and I have to admit that it grates on my nerves (the procedure and the use of the plural teeth).
In an earlier post, Translatorcz wondered why the shark in great white shark movements is not plural. I explained that it functions as an adjective and that nouns, by convention, are not pluralized in such cases but now I'm quite uncertain of that.
Is anybody aware of a particular rule that applies for this matter? I feel most comfortable with tooth whitenening (and uncomfortable with teethbrush) but I'd like to know what our esteemed community thinks, especially those from the other sides of the ponds.
Definitely "tooth" - but I note Americans seem more likely to use "teeth" in places where that sounds weird to me.
Shark movements. Dog movements. Bowel movements... no plural nouns. I don't know the rule.
And who would whiten only one tooth, any more than they'd just brush one? So I'm undecided on that one; even tho I'm a Usaian tooth whitening and teeth whitening both sound OK to me. I agree completely with Val, tho, a teethbrush would make me uncomfortable.
It's called a toothbrush because it was invented in Arkansas. "Nice tooth" continues to be a good pickup line in Arkansas. What else you want to know?
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