Grammar teaser

[cygnusdei]

In the movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, the character Aunt Josephine said this:

Lachrymose leeches have six rows of very sharp teeth and one very sharp nose.

FYI, Aunt Josephine is a stickler for proper grammar ("Grammar is the greatest joy in life").

Anyone care to venture a comment?

[Bob]

Leeches, plural, have one very sharp nose? 

One nose between them all?




(... and in the darkness guide them?)

[Bob]

"Grammer is the greatest joy in life").

Anyone care to venture a comment?

Ahem!  Does spelling count for good old Aunt Joe?

[cygnusdei]

Ahem!  Does spelling count for good old Aunt Joe?

Spot on! But that was entirely my mistake. Aunt Josephine doesn't have a crush on Kelsey Grammer.

But back to the leeches.....

Do you think Aunt Josephine used improper grammar? Or is it perfectly acceptable in colloquial setting?

[thalberg]

I don't think it's incorrect.  After all, you can say "giraffes have four legs" and it's fine. 

How are you supposed to know how many noses there are if you don't know how many leeches there are?

She meant leeches in general.  It would sound stilted if she said leeches each have one nose.  But I suppose it's an option.  This is a strange thread.

[richard black]

The gentlemen removed their hat.

And yes, that is correct, officially,

[Petter]

I totally forgot about that movie. The end credits animation is amazing.

[cygnusdei]

OK, what about this

The Labèque sisters have two pianos.

How many pianos do they have?

[minor9th]

How about:

"The Beatles is my favorite group" or "The Beatles are my favorite group"? Depends on if you view them as a singular unit ("is") or a collection of four individuals ("are"). 

[bench warmer]

                                                          This statement is not true.

[timothy42b]

I think it may be grammatically correct but factually unclear.

I would say "Each leech has six rows of teeth and one nose."  I'm not sure it is any more correct but you would know for sure what I meant. 

[pianochick93]

I think 'Lachrymose Leeches' referrs to the species, not how many. 'The Lachrymose Leeches' would refer to a certain group of those leeches.

So if you said 'Lachrymose leeches have 6 sharp rows of teeth and a very sharp nose' you would be implying that each lachrymose leech has 6 rows of teeth etc.

However if you said 'The lachrymose leeches have 6 rows of teeth etc.' you would be implying that this group had in their possession 6 rows of sharp teeth and a very sharp nose. That's what I see it as anyway.

It could be phrased a little better. Such as 'A single Lachrymose leech has 6 rows of teeth and one very sharp nose.'

[mike_lang]

Lachrymose leeches  [each] have six rows of very sharp teeth and one very sharp nose.