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September 2020 September 2020
We’ll begin with a box and the plural Then one may be that and them would
is boxes be those ,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, Yet what in the plural would never be
not oxes. whose.
One fowl is a goose but two are And the plural of cats, not cose.
called geese We speak of a brother and also of
Yet the plural of moose should never brethren,
be meese. But though we say mother, we never say
You may find a lone mouse or a nest methren.
full of mice The masculine pronouns are he, his and
him
Yet the plural of house is houses not
hice. But imagine the feminine, she, shis and
shim.

If the plural of man is always called
men, Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
Why should not the plural of pan be There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in
called pen? hamburger,
If I speak of my foot I show you my Neither apple nor pine in pineapple,
feet, English muffins weren’t invented in
And if I give a boot, would a pair be England.
called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are At this point I must leave you and God
teeth, Bless You All.
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be Goodbye until the next time.
called beeth?
Ted Cox

The Sound of Sirens
We woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning, not to the vibration of an alarm clock
but to the sound of sirens. It was impossible to know, which of the emergency
services was involved, but with the recent forest fires not too far away from here,
we did think it was likely to be the movement of fire engines.
Any which way, it made a change from the chirrup and twitter of bird song, which
generally wafts through our bedroom window, at that time. When a person is
trying to focus on what particular day of the week it might be, the last thing
needed, is the doppler effect. Being grateful for small mercies, however, we were
glad that we did not live at the other end of our village.
The significant drawback with the other end of the village, is that it backs onto the
bypass, which gives it a significantly high level of rumbling road noise. The extra

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