English Language & Usage Asked on December 23, 2020
I was travelling, and I was standing in a spot where I could see three Starbucks shops. Rather than thinking “North American cultural imperialism”, my brain had a melt down over what the plural of “Starbucks” was?
Some Googling suggests “Starbuckses” but that sounds awkward to my ear (well, hearing aid).
Is Starbucks already plural?
"Starbucks" comes, as far as I know, from the possessive, i.e. "Starbuck's Coffee", as it was named after the character Starbuck from Moby Dick. With that in mind, it makes sense to me to use "Starbucks" as that would be the same as the plural possessive.
However, I know I've heard "Starbuckses" plenty in conversation. So as far as Southern American usage, that seems fine.
Correct answer by Ryan Gell on December 23, 2020
"Starbucks" is a noun. According to the grammar, all the nouns which end in "s" will require an "-es" for the plural, so, possibly it is "Starbuckses".
Moreover, it is possible to try to find words which sound similar (poetical approach :-)) or have morphological similarities. There is the word "buck" which has the plural "bucks" (like the basketball club: "Milwaukee Bucks").
Answered by Darius Miliauskas on December 23, 2020
Starbucks is the name of a company. You didn't see three major corporations on the corner, but three Starbucks stores. So here, Starbucks is more of a description than a noun. Yes, you elide out the "stores" for convenience but that doesn't make it an appropriate noun.
If you saw three stores painted blue, you wouldn't be worried about if you should say that you saw three "blueses" at once. You would just say I saw three blue stores and be done.
Answered by Oldcat on December 23, 2020
The singular of "Starbucks" is really "Starbucks Cafe". The plural would be "Starbucks cafes", so the "Starbucks" part remains unchanged.
Similarly, the plural of "beer" is "beer". I will have a [pint of/glass of/bottle of] beer.
I will have three [pints of/glasses of/bottles of] beer.
Aspirin was the same at one time but by usage is not any longer.
Singular was: Aspirin [tablet] Plural was: Aspirin [tablets] Plural currently: Aspirins
Answered by Packard on December 23, 2020
Get help from others!
Recent Answers
Recent Questions
© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP