Plural of Fez

[Alex The G and T]

Around here:
more than one fez is know as a convention of shriners.

Ah, the fez's brigade; because they belong to their fezzes.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

You know, it came to me that we'd solved the particular sentence you put forth, dannymcg, but I wondered if we helped make the sentence better...smoother.

"They all donned fez-style hats." seems a bit awkward to me. Earlier you'd been wanting to use the plural of 'fez', so it makes me think these are actual fezzes they are donning, not just hats that resemble fezzes in style (if you see what I mean).

I wonder too if this is part of a longer sentence...'They all donned fez-style hats, and the meeting began.' (for example). It's not very smooth, with 'fez-style'.

You could say: 'Each donned a fez, and the meeting began.' or simply 'Each member donned a fez.' This way you remove the plural, and, perhaps, create a smoother-reading sentence.

 

[Danny McG]

Drat!
Subterfuge doesn't come easy to me.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Now I'm curious as to what you're subterfuging!

 

[Danny McG]

Now I'm curious as to what you're subterfuging!

Is that a real word - subterfuging?
This site is a high level education every day

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I wrote it without pause (a good sign for it being a real word), then stopped to reconsider it. Oxford dictionary accepts it...I wonder what others think?

 

[Kylara]

You could just pluralise the hat bit. So 'they donned fez hats'

But fezzes would be plural in my mind.

 

[Danny McG]

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Okay, sometimes I just need to think for a few moments...Oxford accepts subterfuging as an adjective, but not as a verb. So, I think 'his subterfuging ways' might be acceptable, but not the way I used it.

I'm now done hijacking the thread!!

 

[The Judge]

Is that a real word - subterfuging?

No. Well, not at present. "Subterfuge" is a noun, and while English has a long and glorious history of creating verbs from nouns, that one hasn't gained legitimate status yet (not even in Merriam-Webster ) so if you want a verb it would be something like "engaged in subterfuge".

I wrote it without pause (a good sign for it being a real word), then stopped to reconsider it. Oxford dictionary accepts it...

Mine doesn't! Though my paper copy is getting on a bit, admittedly. I can't find it as a legitimate verb on the usual online dictionaries though. Admit it, CC, you just invented it and you want to convince us it's kosher so we all use it and you bask in the glow of being its originator!!


EDIT: ah, you've recanted!

 

[farntfar]

subterfugerisificating is in my OED. But only because I just wrote it in in crayon.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I will admit to many things, and one of them is writing sometimes too closely to how I speak. So, while I might try to bamboozle people in speech with words that do not (as yet!!) exist, I should never do so in posting on a site frequented by so many erudite people. (It would be a cool verb, though!)

 

[Paul_C]

what about super-fudging ?

 

[Danny McG]

what about super-fudging ?

That sounds mildly rude,
"Carry On Fudging"

 

[tinkerdan]

When I read that it looked like yeti

(as yet!!)

which would work in a twisted way.
She began to bamboozle them while subterfuging her way, through the use of words that don't yeti exist.

 

[2DaveWixon]

You know, it came to me that we'd solved the particular sentence you put forth, dannymcg, but I wondered if we helped make the sentence better...smoother.

"They all donned fez-style hats." seems a bit awkward to me. Earlier you'd been wanting to use the plural of 'fez', so it makes me think these are actual fezzes they are donning, not just hats that resemble fezzes in style (if you see what I mean).

I wonder too if this is part of a longer sentence...'They all donned fez-style hats, and the meeting began.' (for example). It's not very smooth, with 'fez-style'.

You could say: 'Each donned a fez, and the meeting began.' or simply 'Each member donned a fez.' This way you remove the plural, and, perhaps, create a smoother-reading sentence.

I think if a hat is a fez, it is gilding the lily to call it "fez-style." You would not call a Ford automobile a "Ford-style automobile."

 

[2DaveWixon]

I will admit to many things, and one of them is writing sometimes too closely to how I speak. So, while I might try to bamboozle people in speech with words that do not (as yet!!) exist, I should never do so in posting on a site frequented by so many erudite people. (It would be a cool verb, though!)

I subterfuge, you subterfuge, he subterfuges.
We subterfuge, you all subterfuge, they subterfuge.

You know, the more I say the word, the less it sounds as if it's a real word...I think my mind is in revolt.

 

[2DaveWixon]

That sounds mildly rude,
"Carry On Fudging"

That's what you tell the guy building you an ice cream sundae...

 

[tinkerdan]

It was through heinous trickery, deceit, deception and fraud that they inserted this word subterfuge into our every day life and even the dictionary.
And then they added another feather to the fez.

or many feathers to their fezes, fezzes, or fezzi.

 

[Pyan]

As we seem to have come to a conclusion about the correct answer to the OP's query, and because the last thing we need is another repartee thread:

Thread Closed