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

That, and to make a status display of wealth, education, and/or culture.

When English began to standardize in the early modern period, it was also a time when a new merchant class were growing wealth. To be taken seriously by the nobility they were now rubbing elbows with, they were eager to be trained in how to sound more like old money (some also bought titles). This created a demand for rules of English grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation that could be taught. Thus trained, one could sound as if one had not had to earn one's own wealth. (The horror!)

These new grammar experts tried to create systems that would make English sound more perfect. One thing they did was to try to make English more like Latin, which at that time was the perfect language. But, even though English has lots of French influences, it is really a Germanic language.

So some of the new rules, which red- and blue-blooded rich people both adopted, were based on Latin rules that made no sense in English. The most classic is "don't split the infinitive." If you've studied any Latin languages, you know that it's impossible to split the infinitive because it's one word. In English, it's two. That's why "To boldly go where no man has gone before" is perfectly cromulent — especially when the gendered part is updated.

It's natural to be annoyed by changes to language that make you feel distanced from others. New generations, and many subcultures, are attracted to grammar and vocabulary that allow them to express membership in a group, while also confusing their parents and other outsiders. We "olds," and others in the mainstream, naturally don't want to feel out-of-touch, so we are tempted to denigrate the way young people or subcultures use language.

But here's the thing: We don't have to.

And now I have Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood" rattling through my brain.

 

@TMegginson: OK I'll bite. What does "cromulent" mean? Whatever it is, it's a lovely sounding word.

"To boldly split the infinitive".

 

I'd agree except it's mostly due to misusage.

 

It's a particularly smart joke from the Simpsons in 1996. The teachers are debating whether "embiggen" (which appears in an educational film being shown at the school) is actually a word. The reply is "It's a perfectly cromulent word."

"Cromulent" was made up by the writers, but it instantly entered the Gen X vocabulary, at least in the US and Canada, because it was useful as a perfect response to any questionable neologism.

More here:

Cromulent

 

I must admit that when I hear or see someone use the word "vinyls" my first unkind thought is, "idiot".
Not only is it wrong it also sounds awkward and weird.

With an accent it's cute and sounds like my Swiss friend doing his darnedest to get English right and is getting close but is not quite there.

 

When I was a kid, I thought of a "record player" as a fully contained single unit (amp, turntable, speakers). This could be anything from a small portable device, to a large stationary console. My first "record player" played only 45's. My parents had a large single console record player that took up half of our family room. Both had built-in, non-detachable speakers.

Later as a teen, I purchased separate components, including a turntable.

All of the above played vinyls.

 

I get the use of the word vinyl, it's the pluralisation with an 's' that just doesn't sound right. The word 'vinyl' would be used occasionally to describe records in the pre-CD era, but when referenced in the plural, as in 'you've got a lot of vinyl', it was without an 's'. Maybe because it's a type of material, I'm not sure.
Language may evolve (often due to laziness and misuse) but it's still going to sound awkward to those old enough to remember the correct usage.

 

Nope. They played records.

 

Hmmm. The only problem is that "cromulent", as described in that article, seems to be merely a synonym for "acceptable".

If course it does have the advantage that the word lends itself to modifications, as in "the cromulence of this is not in dispute".

 

Same with 'wala' for voilà. I think they're being ironic, but who knows?
'Do' for due is fairly ridiculous, but 'peaked my interest' always makes me laugh. It should be piqued, btw

 

I don't think it was around in 1950. I don't remember seeing it before the turn of the century, but maybe i suppressed that. lol. Im 60.

 

Usually when a group starts using a word all the sheepS follow.

 

Advice from our host:

People, I love ya but there is no such word as VINYLS. It's "VINYL", no 's' at end.

 

But when you use “glass” as an adjective to describe a class of things made out of the material glass in general, you wouldn’t say “people who live in glasses houses shouldn’t throw stones.” You wouldn’t say “The buildings downtown are made of glasses” or “the downtown skyline of glasses,” you would say “the buildings are made of glass” or “the skyline of glass.”

No one would say “I have a collection of vinyls records.” They would say “I have a collection of vinyl records.” When you drop the noun “records” and use the adjective “vinyl” to stand for both itself and the omitted noun, as we see in the adage “youth is wasted on the young,” we don’t suddenly tack a “s” onto the standalone adjective to make it “plural.” If that were so, the saying would be “youth is wasted on the youngs,” with “youngs” standing in for the implicitly understood “young people” or “young persons.” But no one would say “youth is wasted on the youngs persons” or “youth is wasted on the youngs,” just as no one would say “today I bought five vinyls records.” Omitting “records” from that sentence doesn’t make “today I bought five vinyls” a valid or correct sentence.

 

Why do British people refer to math as maths (especially when referring to the combination of types of math, from basic to advanced)? Americans just call it all math.

There is also a tendency of non-native English speakers to sometumes add an extra s before they completely learn the language ("it's mine" becomes "it's mines," advice becomes advices, clothes becomes clotheses).

 

When I was a kid, we called it macaroni. Now everyone calls it pasta. What's up with that?

 

I work in a record store. It's not just the millenials, some older people say vinyls. Sheet, I've even slipped a couple of times.
At the end of the day, language evolves: give them their vinyls.

And their 'playlists'.

 

Because "maths" is short for "mathematics". Your own post may provide a clue to answer your question. There are many branches of mathematics: algebra, geometry, calculus, number theory, etc, I don't know the derivation of the word "mathematics", but it may be that it's pluralised to indicate that it refers to many different but related disciplines.

One may as well ask "Why do American people refer to maths as math?". I can assure you that "math" sounds just as weird to me as "maths" sounds to you. We think of what we grew up with as normal.

 

We say maths in Australia too! Cool hey?

 

That's easy. Macaroni is a type of pasta. So is spaghetti.

What bothers me more is, if you have only one of the buggers, is it correct to call it a "macorono", or a "spaghetto"?

 

Nope, I do not accept that one record is “a vinyl.” I bought that on vinyl is acceptable. I bought a vinyl of that is unacceptable. I bought two vinyls today is death by firing squad.

 

The first time I saw the term was from those of which English is not their native language. I figured it was because of the difficulty of some to master the idiosyncrasies of the English language.

 

Slade probably would.

 

I accept it, so that's where we differ.

Of course it's beyond me why anyone would buy a vinyl, let alone two vinyls, but that's a matter for other threads, being more about media preference than about language.

 

I never thought of that! I think you're right. What goes around comes around.