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by dieselfool on August 8th, 2006

dieselfool

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Why is it that the plural of beer is beers, but deer is both plural and singular?

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  • by Roger Kovaciny on August 9th, 2006

    Roger Kovaciny

    Most likely because "deer" is so often a collective noun, as in "a herd of deer," "a couple of deer." I looked at the German words to see if they gave a hint--both "beer" and "deer" come from German words, "Bier" and "Tier" (though there are several other German words for "deer") and they don't explain it. But there are some features of Russian that are still found in our language, and one of them is that with small numbers, a singular form is often used for the plural. (Technical explanation: Russian has a singular and a plural, but for two, three, or four of something the plural form is a genitive singular and for five or more the plural form is a genitive plural.) But having three plurals is a pain. Even having two is a pain. And since deer are either alone or in a flock or herd, our honorable ancestors probably just got out of the habit of saying "deer" with a plural. And it goes WAY back--back so far into the history of English that you probably couldn't read it.

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