I wonder if there's a parallel universe where children are called "childs" and adults are called "adultren"
I wonder if there's a parallel universe where children are called "childs" and adults are called "adultren"
Hmm.
There's a theory that, at one time, "man" was a gender neutral term for persons and we called males "weremen" and obviously women "women"
That probably isn't true, but it's fun to think about a world where that was reversed.
EDIT Also evidently there was wifmann and wapman, which is an even funnier world to imagine.
24“Were” is cognate to Latin vir ‘man’—cf. “werewolf” (‘man-wolf’).
“Woman” comes from a compound meaning “woman-person” (wif-mæn, cf. “wife”); a man was a wæpned-mæn (“weapon-person” or “penis-person”). The lexical narrowing of “man” to mean ‘male’ happened later, and it was indeed originally a gender-neutral term.
15According to this, whether or not it is real:
And we also see wæpman being specifically to refer to a man in relation to penetrative sex.
4
Not what you asked for, but Welsh has irregular plurals for adults and children, too:
Adult: oedolyn
Adults: oedolionChild: plentyn
Children: plant(Still learning, so I'm not too sure why or how)
7Always knew Wales was essentially living in a different dimension... 🤔 (lol, thanks for the tidbit!)
3The Welsh alphabet is beautiful. Nuts from a perspective of both Continental and British traditions, but I am extremely fond of it.
2
One of the best shower thoughts i’ve seen! 💖
5I’ve met some sweet southerners that already call children “childs.”
4They're cute until the terrible fourty twos.
4Now this is a shower thought.
4yesn't
4“en” used to be the plural before “s”. Think “oxen” for example.
2Certified shower thought
2"Irwin, what is the plural of ox?"
— "Oxen! The farmer used his oxen!"
"Brian, what is the plural of box?"
— "Boxen. I bought two boxen of donuts."
"Irwin, what is the plural of goose?"
— "Geese! I saw a flock of geese!"
"Brian, what is the plural of moose?"
— "MOOSEN!"
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