Monday, October 8, 2012

Plural forms

Here's a confession. Every time I write the plural form of the word 'mango', a surge of paranoia comes over me.

"Do I use 'mangos' or 'mangoes'?"
"If I use 'mangos', will people think I'm stupid and illiterate?"
"If I use 'mangoes', will people think I'm indecisive and wishy-washy because I usually use 'mangos'?"
"What if someone asks why I use the spelling 'mangos'? Should I contrive some etymological reason?  Or should I be honest and tell them I just want to save a keystroke?"

My palms are sweating even now.

You may be wondering why I have never let the dictionary settle the matter for me. Well, I tried. And my paranoia persists. Here is the entry.

 mango.  |ˈmaNG gō|.  noun.  (pl. mangoes or mangos )  
1.  a fleshy yellowish-red tropical fruit that is eaten ripe or used green for pickles or chutneys.  
2. (also mango tree ) the evergreen Indian tree of the cashew family that bears this fruit, widely cultivated in the tropics. 

So, now you know that you can spell the plural form of mango EITHER way! Instead of eliminating my anxiety, it gives it another twist.

"Which form is most popular?"
"Which form do my readers prefer?"
"Which form makes me look less stupid?"

Please help me put an end to my quandary.  Write down in the comment below the plural form of "mango" you feel most comfortable with.  In that way, I will at least know the preferences of readers of this blog!


3 comments:

  1. I always use 'mangoes'. But if you check in the internet, people use both 'mangoes' and 'mangos', albeit the first spelling seems to be more common.

    Example of website using 'mangos': http://freshmangos.com/aboutmangos/index.html

    Conclusion: nothing wrong with the spelling 'mangos'. Don't need to sweat over it :-)

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  2. I agree, go with mangos. It's just simpler.

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  3. mangos looks better...
    (though spellcheck insists mangoes is correct)

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