A Scissors

[Classysturgeon]

Saying "a scissor" makes me think of some mythical creature who's essentially a green, scaly troll in a loin cloth with a head made up of two crossed blades and a metallic handle. It could be the bane of scribes, or something.

 

[VKALFIERI]

I have a pair of kitchen scissors (shears) that split apart. They can have one of the halves if they want a scissors....

 

[tinkerdan]

My dictionary, which is now getting to be old at 2002 as its date, adds an interesting wrinkle into my thoughts on the subject of scissor/scissors.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
scissor seems to be described as a cutting instrument. (with no description).

Scissors is a cutting instrument with two blades whose cutting edges slide past each other.

So they both are cutting instruments, but one specifically has two blades.

Now the verb scissor is described as, to cut, cut up, or cut off with scissors or shears.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My words::not the dictionary::
So if you need to scissor then you will need scissors; scissor or a scissor just won't do the job.
::
Then I thought::
to cut, cut up, or cut off with scissors.
not a pair of scissors
not a scissors
just scissors.

But does the dictionary have to use good grammar.

 

[tinkerdan]

I'm in Northern US and when I think about this I might say.
Can I borrow some scissors?
Can I borrow the scissors?
Can I borrow a pair of scissors?
Can I borrow scissors?
But I would never say:
Can I borrow a scissors?

It doesn't roll off the mind well enough, and it seems to get caught in my nostrils and chokes me.

One more item if you read this article you will see the person is taking scissors out of context by assuming it needs the a or a pair in front. I believe a is a lazy way of saying a pair.
But in this context a pair or a scissor would b wrong.
Is "pair of scissors" more correct than "scissors"?