Language question: Why has "vinyls" become a word?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by TMegginson, Aug 13, 2019.

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  1. Cast Iron Shore

    Cast Iron Shore Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    In the UK, "maths" is correct and "math" incorrect, such as in "I didn't do well in maths."
     
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  2. PopularChuck

    PopularChuck Senior Member

    Location:
    Bay Area
    Why don't they speak English, dammit.
     
  3. Johnny Action

    Johnny Action Forum President

    Location:
    Kailua, Hawai’i
    The English way makes sense. I would naturally say “I failed my stats course” rather than “... stat course.” And I’m American.
     
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  4. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Darnit! I did see it but forgot to highlight it!
     
  5. beatleroadie

    beatleroadie Forum Resident

    I have several friends who collect vinyl, and I frequent record stores and often people watch ha, and I have never heard someone say "vinyls" in person. Is this a phenomenon that people are encountering online perhaps? As in people are typing "I collect vinyls" instead of "I collect records"....?
     
  6. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Especially on internet news sites. They seem to be more concerned about getting an article posted than having it proof read and/or edited.
     
  7. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    I think sometimes Americans forget that English originated in England. And, if you want to get technical, English actually has a German heritage.
     
  8. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    It actually originated in what we would now call Germany, as I see you’ve updated your post to acknowledge.
     
  9. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    ...before I saw this. ;o)
    It was an after thought expecting to hear about it.
     
  10. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Before the Angles and the Saxons colonized the island that we now call England, the people who lived there spoke either Latin or Celtic dialects. And didn’t say “vinyls.”
     
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  11. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    LOL!
     
  12. 12stringbassist

    12stringbassist Location: Irrelevance.

    Location:
    Manchester UK
    "Vinyls" irritates me. Really.
     
  13. DeRosa

    DeRosa Vinyl Forever

    Since you are clearly educated or trained in language, I'm very curious why you've posted so many responses in this thread
    with either technical or historic language usage explanations, yet somehow seem to be refuting the basic point that it is quite common to place
    an "s" on a "countable noun" to make it plural. Certainly you're not arguing "vinyl" when used as a noun referring to an LP record is a mass noun?

    Just to be clear, you obviously understand the difference between using "vinyl" and as an adjective rather than a noun, yes?
    Or are you making the argument that it's incorrect to use "vinyl" as a noun? Do you accept "CD" or "Cassette" as nouns?
    We're not biased by format, correct?

    There are a vast number of irregular plural noun examples, perhaps you prefer 'vinylen', 'vinylves', or
    or some other exception to the normal plural noun patterns?
     
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  14. Achn2b

    Achn2b Forum Resident

    Location:
    N. Conway, NH
    Vinyls bugs me. Its just wrong. Even if you insist on calling a record 'vinyl', your entire collection is still 'vinyl', not 'vinyls'.

    The other one that really bugs me is 'colorways'. "Our new turntable is available in a number of attractive colorways". No. It's available in a number of attractive colors. Period.
     
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  15. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    I’m 42 and when I was growing up, LP, plural LPs, was a term people older than me used to refer to records. My generation would have probably needed to come up with our own term, but vinyl had fallen out of fashion when we started to build our record collections so we were spared the bother. Nowadays, vinyl is popular again but no self respecting millennial is going to want to refer to it by a name that was passe in the early nineties, hence vinyl, plural vinyls. I don’t have to like it but things move on.
     
  16. DeRosa

    DeRosa Vinyl Forever

    It does me too, but i'm trying to understand the reason why, other than it wasn't what we said back in the (before Record Store) day.
    "Cassettes" doesn't bother me at all, so it's a curious thing.
     
  17. hhjack

    hhjack Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oak Park, IL
  18. Eric_Generic

    Eric_Generic Enigma

    Location:
    Berkshire
    They're records. Or albums. Or LPs.

    Not that I am interested in the format anymore!

    EG.
     
  19. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Or colours if you live in the UK.:p
     
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  20. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member

    Honestly what’s the big deal? It doesn’t bug me one way or another... and not nearly as much as the incorrect use of their/there or your/you’re!
     
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  21. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    thats a good point
     
  22. lc1995

    lc1995 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I don't see why it's any different from a colloquial terms like "rubber".
     
  23. B. Bu Po

    B. Bu Po Senior Member

    When CDs first came out, my roommate and I referred to them as "tapes" because we couldn't bring ourselves to utter the word "compact disc" or "CD".
     
  24. Stan94

    Stan94 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paris, France
    Of course it's French. It's "des vinyles" here, which means records, either 7" or 12".
     
  25. stevenson66g

    stevenson66g Hand me my Revolver

    Vinyl is a material and as such it has no plural. You refer to wood or metal, not woods or metals (unless talking about the different types - when talking about the material it's only referred to as a collective singular). Records and cassettes are talking about specific products and therefore are referred to in the plural. But vinyl is the material from which records are made, and as such I never heard records referred to as vinyl when I was younger.
     
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