Fox News Comprehension

Tsunami is Japanese for “harbor waves.” Tsunami is both singular and plural; there are no “tsunamis” just as there are no “sheeps.” And “tsunami waves” means “harbor waves waves.” Duh.

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3 Responses to Fox News Comprehension

  1. goofy says:

    The OED has a number of citations of “tsunamis” or “tunamis”. According to M-W, the plural can be “tsunami” or “tsunamis”.

    • Jeff Puthuff says:

      I stand by my assertion (and I’m not alone) that tsunamis is improper. If people started using “sheeps,” “gooses” (as a noun), and “scissor,” should we acquiesce and allow it as proper?

  2. Jimbeaux says:

    Hi,
    My earlier comment on this subject seems to have been expurgated, so let me try again —
    First, I don't agree that tsunami is "both singular and plural." It's probably more accurate to say that tsunami, like all nouns in Japanese, is neither singular nor plural. I know it's metaphysical-sounding, but singularity or plurality (of the noun) is meaningless when the word undergoes no change at all. Whether the concept (not the word) is plural depends on context.
    More importantly, tsunami is undoubtedly a loanword in English. Thus, it is an English word, and should, by and large, obey English rules of inflection. And one of these rules is, yes, the affixing of "s" to the end of it to denote plurality. It's particularly odd when you think of loanwords like kimono. In English, kimono demonstrates plurality with an "X."

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