Bussses

Dunjohn

What's the plural of "bus?" Is it one "s" or two?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Donkey Oaty

There is a school of thought that suggests that since "bus" is an abbreviation of the Latin "omnibus", which is technically plural already, then the plural of "bus" should be "bus".

However, that usage is strictly for people with no friends.

Yakuza

I'd have said busses, doubling the last consonant when the preceeding vowel is not a slender vowel (ie not e or i).

There aren't many singular nouns that end in s, so I guess it doesn't come up that often.

Bus -> Busses
Iris -> Irises

Edit : It would appear "the internet" agrees with donegalfellah, but I'll still be using "busses"

pickarooney

How about gases? Can you write it 'gasses' or is that strictly for the verb form?

Yakuza

pickarooney wrote: »

How about gases? Can you write it 'gasses' or is that strictly for the verb form?

Again, I'd have gone with gasses here (so the plural noun and verb forms agree) (although gases is acceptable too, apparently).

I think I'm putting the way I'd spell it down to the way I'd pronounce it.

Gases would sound like bases to me, which sounds odd to me (the a being ay (as in bay) rather than ahh (as in, well, gas:))), so by doubling the s, I pronounce it "gas-ses" which sounds better to me.

I guess it's horses for courses (or busses for abysses ).

looksee

Without really thinking about it, I have always assumed it was buses, and I thought busses looked really peculiar. However I agree with the arguments here and I do agree gases looks a bit odd, so it will be busses from now on.

nompere

The Chambers Dictionary (wouldn't be without it) suggests that either buses or busses is acceptable but that busses is the less common usage.

nompere

As a noun, Chambers indicates that gases is the only version.

pickarooney

Yakuza wrote: »

Again, I'd have gone with gasses here (so the plural noun and verb forms agree) (although gases is acceptable too, apparently).

I think I'm putting the way I'd spell it down to the way I'd pronounce it.

Gases would sound like bases to me, which sounds odd to me (the a being ay (as in bay) rather than ahh (as in, well, gas:))), so by doubling the s, I pronounce it "gas-ses" which sounds better to me.

Then again 'basses' as in guitars has a long 'a'.

The Raven.

My Chamber’s Twentieth Century Dictionary gives ‘buss’ and ‘bus’ as the contraction of ‘omnibus’. However, it gives ‘buses’ only as the plural.

My Concise Oxford Dictionary also gives ‘buses’ only as the plural.

Both Chamber’s and Oxford give ‘gases’ only as the plural of ‘gas’.


Curious about the spelling in the title of this thread: ‘Bussses’ .

Yakuza

pickarooney wrote: »

Then again 'basses' as in guitars has a long 'a'.

True

I guess the answer to the OP is that there is often (more than) two ways to skin a cat. I don't think I've ever had to write / type (before seeing this thread) the words bus(s)es / gas(s)es before.

On mature reflection, I guess gases is a better plural of the noun (the verb still being gasses), and I'll just have to acknowledge that the a is pronounced differently depending on whether you're talking about bases or gases - just like the ea sound in "read" is different depending if you're saying "I read the book yesterday" or "I will read the book tomorrow" .

That's what I love about the English language - exceptions abound.

The Raven.

pickarooney wrote: »

Then again 'basses' as in guitars has a long 'a'.

'Bass', as in 'guitars', refers to the lowest region of musical pitch, already with two 'S's. I can’t say that I have ever heard it used in the plural but I presume it would be ‘basses’. Normally, as a noun, it is used in the singular, or as an adjective before the particular instrument: 'bass guitar', 'bass drum', 'bass clarinet' etc.

Although related, it should not be confused with 'base' as in 'bottom', 'foundation', or 'support', the plural of which is 'bases'.

pickarooney

It's used all the time in the plural, as in 'three cellos and two double basses'.

The Raven.

pickarooney wrote: »

It's used all the time in the plural, as in 'three cellos and two double basses'.

Yes, indeed you are right. My mistake. Of course it would be ‘double basses’, in relation to that particular instrument. I was thinking of the word on its own in the context of that section of the strings on the musical score, and I don’t recall hearing the instruments referred to as the ‘basses’. However, I see online that it sometimes is, and that bass guitars are often referred to as ‘the basses’, but as I don’t write for that instrument, it wouldn’t be part of my vocabulary.