'Bellows': singular or plural?

David Lyga

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The Brits, unlike the Americans who say it is singular, say it can be either, and I tend to trust the Brits more when it comes to the English language. I want to know how many of you use this word as plural?
 

Rick A

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bel·low
Dictionary result for bellow
/ˈbelō/
verb
  1. 1.
    (of a person or animal) emit a deep loud roar, typically in pain or anger.
    "he bellowed in agony"


    • noun
  1. 1.
    a deep roaring shout or sound.
    "a bellow of rage"
    synonyms: roar, shout, bawl, bark, bay, yawp, yell, yelp, shriek, howl, scream, screech, call, cry, whoop, wail, caterwaul;
    informalholler;
    rare vociferation, ululation
    "he gave a bellow of pain and rage"

bel·lows | \ ˈbe-(ˌ)lōz , -ləz\
Definition of bellows
(Entry 1 of 2)

1: an instrument or machine that by alternate expansion and contraction draws in air through a valve or orifice and expels it through a tubealso : any of various other blowers
2: LUNGS
3: the pleated expansible part in a camera also : a metallic or plastic flexible and expansible vessel
 

wfw

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Well, I'm a Yank and I've always contended that the word "bellows" is a collective noun, much like "deer".
One bellows; two (or more) bellows.
YMMV.
 

wiltw

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Is a pair of 'scissors' singular or plural...it is difficult to cut anything with a single blade!
Is a pair of 'pants' singular or plural...I only generally can wear ONE at a time!
Is a company a singular entity, or the plural formed by the many individuals who comprise it? ...the British would say "IBM are now a software company"

As for 'bellows'...that is when an animal makes a series of a deep roaring sounds (plural), but I have only a single 'bellows' on my large format camera!

As for the expertise in their language, I think the Brits too often continue to use anachronistic terms, like the 'torch' used to see in the dark but which has no flame today!
 

MattKing

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If it was based on a Latin root, would the plural be "Bella" ?
 

guangong

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David Lyga said:
The Brits, unlike the Americans who say it is singular, say it can be either, and I tend to trust the Brits more when it comes to the English language. I want to know how many of you use this word as plural?
Click to expand...

As H. L. Mencken pointed out, when 300 million people speak a language, the 75 million only speak a dialect. I have even observed that there are British publications that use the more logical American spelling system. Ex. How does one logically pronounce jail from gaol?
As for “bellows”, Webster’s 2 edition and Oxford Universal both give “bellows” and note that it is only used in the plural...the bellows for this camera are...; not: the bellows for this camera is...
 

Sirius Glass

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From My Fair Lady:
Henry Higgins: Look at her, a prisoner of the gutter,
Condemned by every syllable she utters
By right she should be taken out and hung,
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.
Eliza Doolittle: Aaoooww!

Henry (imitating her): Aaoooww!
Heavens! What a sound!
This is what the British population,
Calls an elementary education.

Pickering: Oh Come sir, I think you picked a poor example.

Henry: Did I?
Hear them down in Soho Square,
Dropping "h's" everywhere.
Speaking English anyway they like.
You sir, did you go to school?

Man: Wadaya tike me for, a fool?

Henry: No one taught him 'take' instead of 'tike!
Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse, hear a Cornishman converse. I'd rather hear a choir singing flat.
Chickens, cackling in a barn, just like this one (pointing to Eliza)

Eliza: Gaaarn

Henry (writing, imitating Eliza): Gaaarn..
I ask you Sir, what sort of word is that? (to Pickering)
It's "aoow" and "gaarn" that keep her in her place
Not her wretched clothes and dirty face
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction, by now,
Should be antique. If you spoke as she does, sir,
Instead of the way you do,
Why, you might be selling flowers, too!

Pickering: I beg your pardon!

Henry: An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him,
The moment he talks he makes some other
Englishman despise him.
One common language I'm afraid we'll never get.
Oh, why can't the English learn to
set a good example to people whose
English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.
There even are places where English completely
disappears.
Well, in America, they haven't used it for years!
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks have taught their Greek. In France every Frenchman knows
his language from "A" to "Zed"
The French never care what they do, actually,
as long as they pronounce it properly.
Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning.
And Hebrews learn it backwards,
which is absolutely frightening.
Use proper English you're regarded as a freak.
Why can't the English,
Why can't the English learn to speak?​
 

MattKing

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guangong said:
Ex. How does one logically pronounce jail from gaol?
Click to expand...
And how is "colonel" pronounced - in either environment?
I don't think "logical" is a reliable measure.
And traditionally, "gaol" was pronounced differently - with a hard "g".
 

RalphLambrecht

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David Lyga said:
The Brits, unlike the Americans who say it is singular, say it can be either, and I tend to trust the Brits more when it comes to the English language. I want to know how many of you use this word as plural?
Click to expand...
when it comes to the part of the camera that keeps a flexible but light-tight distance between lens and film plane, I only know it as 'bellows; and BY THE WAY,, I trust the Americans before the brits when it comes to the English language just because, they are more adaptable and refer to linguistic more as the common usage rather than rigid rule.
 

Martin Rickards

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That is because there is no accepted arbiter for "correct" English, as would be the case for the Académie Française, the Real Academia Española etc.
 

narsuitus

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Sirius Glass said:
From My Fair Lady:
Click to expand...

"England and America are two counties separated by a common language."

Quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw who wrote the stage play Pygmalion which was the basis for the My Fair Lady stage musical.
 

removed account4

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David Lyga said:
The Brits, unlike the Americans who say it is singular, say it can be either, and I tend to trust the Brits more when it comes to the English language. I want to know how many of you use this word as plural?
Click to expand...

Hello David Lyga

Bellows is singluar and Bellowses is plural. Just so it makes perfect sense;
I'll use thems in a sentence. I have a beautiful pleathery corinthian leathery red bellows on my Graphic View II; and My Toyo Technical View Camera has two delightfully lightproof bellowses, one in fronts and one in the backs.

J
 
OP
OP

David Lyga

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OK I did not know that this inquiry (enquiry?) would invoke such a cacophony of ... anti-British sentiment! "Logical" usage, or even outright transfiguration, of language is not necessarily better than the retention of a more comforting tradition. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes unknown for certain.

When I posited the question I KNEW that there is only one 'unit' called a bellows on (some) cameras. What I wanted to know was whether that ONE UNIT was, in fact, ultimately defined as being a 'series of self-contained units' that would allow, indeed, perhaps require, the noun to be considered to be plural in form. As Martin Rickards, from Spain, related, the Brits consider an entity to be plural, whereby USA considers an entity to be forevermore singular. Thus, we have: "Harman do this quite often" and "Kodak does this quite often". The case can handily be made for either, the Brits considering the number of people within an entity to be the cause for plural and the Americans consider the complete entity to be a 'person' or 'thing', singular, on its own. There is an argument to be made for swearing allegiance to either method but, here, we seem to be simply swearing and call that output a 'solution'.

I don't know and, even though I want to know, in the end, we get the same definition and image within our collective minds. - David Lyga
 
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BMbikerider

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Oh my goodness how you guys from over the water know how to mess up and alter what must be the most diverse and complex language in the world, second only to perhaps the Chinese Mandarin. Even then it must be a close call

'Bellows' as in a set of the same, used on a camera is very definitely singular, the actual 'bellows' are the convoluted part that fold up as the bellows are racked in or out. The whole assembly are collectively know as 'bellows' so therefor singular. If you don't agree, Google the word in the Oxford English Dictionary which is the definitive answer.

Or think of it this way. You go into a camera shop and ask for a set of bellow. Then stand back and view the look of amazement from a bemused assistant. But ask for a set of bellows and they will know what you mean immediately.
 

BMbikerider

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To save you the bother of checking, I have done it for you. There is no singular or plural of the word, in both cases it is exactly the same. You could say" I have a set of bellows" (meaning one set) or you could say I have "3 sets of bellows" …..does that make sense?
 

Martin Rickards

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The word bellows, although deriving from the same word as "belly" bhel, has been considered plural since the XV century.possibly because original ones had two handles.
 

RalphLambrecht

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is it pants or pant?
 
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