Lexical Leavings
by Tom Gally
If some singular English words
have been borrowed into Japanese as plurals, at least one normally
plural word has had its plural suffix stripped off in Japanese:
"manners" and マナー. Any others?(Later: A correspondent offers these: サングラス, パンティー, イヤホン, ヘッドホン, プライヤー, ニッパー, グラフィックアート, ビジュアルアート, ブリーフ, サスペンダー, トング, チャート in the meaning "hit charts," and ボーイスカウト and ガールスカウト as collective nouns referring to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.)
(January 10, 2003)