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	blackjackrocket 2007-09-14 06:36 am UTC (link)
	Needs more cow rape. And I've always heard it as singular and plural. What does that mean for me? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	eso_si_que 2007-09-14 01:25 pm UTC (link)
	Needs more cow rape. I will not Google. I will not Google. I will not Google... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	notjo 2007-09-14 01:58 pm UTC (link)
	Of course not. Check the wiki instead - it's faster. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	shaysdays 2007-09-14 02:45 pm UTC (link)
	Is the wiki back up then? runs to click (Reply to this)(Parent)

queencallipygos
2007-09-14 02:37 pm UTC (link)

And I've always heard it as singular *and* plural. What does that mean for me?

The semantics may be rendered thus:

The singular for a single piece of lettuce is "lettuce leaf."

"Lettuce" can refer to the general category of "grean leafy crap that comprises the bulk of salads."

But "lettuces" could be used if you are talking about a salad bar and you have a variety of kinds of lettuce -- you've got your romaine, your iceberg, your Boston, your Bibb...they're all lettuce, but they're different kinds of lettuce, hence "lettuces".

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	frequentmouse 2007-09-14 05:36 pm UTC (link)
	Also, if you are transplanting lettuce seedlings from the starter medium to alargerflat, then you are "pricking out the lettuces." I know, because Miss Marple says so. (Reply to this)(Parent)

melannen
2007-09-14 06:40 pm UTC (link)

I would say that 'lettuce' is often a collective noun, kind of like 'people.'

So you would say "Many people eat lettuce", but it can be pluraled when you're talking about several different groups of lettuce: "Different peoples around the world eat different lettuces," which I think is what tytal was getting at.

I would say, though, that as the subject of a preposition, lettuce would always be non-plural: "Some nations of people eat other kinds of lettuce"; but I'm not a tech writer like tytal, *or* drunk, so what do I know? :D

(Lettuce, of course, is also used non-collectively as a synonym for "head of lettuce", in which case it's a countable noun: "Get the lettuces off the truck, this person wants to buy a lettuce.")

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	sushi 2007-09-15 03:39 am UTC (link)
	Cow rape? googles That's just... hypnotizing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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