A big thank you!

Shillelagh spun a FINE 'yarn':

>

Sounds like you just hit a little slump and now you are at the rewarding part!!! Karen in MI

I'm not sure a non-knitter(crocheter) would.

Oh yes a crocheter does Shelagh! (lol). Having made two moebius(es) (is the plural moebiuses or moebii, I wonder?) I do appreciate the work that goes into making a fine shawl like that which is at least four or five times the size of the lace things I made. I think you are a wonder with the beautiful work you do.

Anyone who did not appreciate that gorgeous shawl would have to be a total Philistine.

Higs, Katherine

Shelagh i looked and was SPEEEEEEEECHLES ,, which is very unusual for me !!! mirjam

no no, I meant a person who DOESN'T crochet. I crochet too and I know people who crochet understand. Sometimes my words don't come out right (grin).

Shelagh

(lol). Having made two moebius(es) (is

Phew! I'm glad we cleared that up then (lol). By the way, any suggestions on the plural for moebius? :-)

My guess is moebi, as in the plural of focus is foci. But that really is just a wild guess. The word is german is it not? My high school german did not give me sufficient skill to deterine if this is the correct plural in this case.

Thanks for trying VP. I've had no luck at all despite searching the web because it looks as though both (or either) are acceptable.

I asked my other half, Robin, (who did Latin at college) and he says moebii would be unusual and rather old fashioned because most people would go for the "moebiuses" option in modern language.

There is a Thuridilla moebii which is a type of sea slug but on various blogs the preference seems to be to call them moebiuses.

Maybe I'm just being pedantic but I would like to know the proper word - even if I have never any occasion to use it in future.

Have you tried an unabridged dictionary? I have a suspicion that if you do, you will find that "moebius" is an adjective and will not have a plural form in English, but I am not sure.

I can find it in some dictionaries (especially under the spelling 'mobius') but no plural is mentioned. For example see:

that it's a person's name (August Ferdinand M=F6bius) and thatwhat we're probably really talking about are "M=F6bius strips" or"M=F6bius bands" there just may not be any official plural. VP

OED does not list a plural, although it does list Mobius as a noun. I'd say that since it came into popular use within the last century, and since it's a proper name, the plural form would most likely be Mobiuses. We tend to use the Germanic "es" plural ending for most proper nouns nowadays.

Anastasia

--Linguistics graduate student

I can find it in some dictionaries (especially under the spelling 'mobius') but no plural is mentioned. For example see:

that it's a person's name (August Ferdinand Möbius) and thatwhat we're probably really talking about are "Möbius strips" or"Möbius bands" there just may not be any official plural. VP

I can find it in some dictionaries (especially under the spelling 'mobius') but no plural is mentioned. For example see:

that it's a person's name (August Ferdinand Möbius) and thatwhat we're probably really talking about are "Möbius strips" or"Möbius bands" there just may not be any official plural.

The apostrophe indicates possession, for example: "That is Thomas' coat". If you are talking about multiple people called Thomas then the correct term is "Thomases".

I'm not super keen on mobiuses (because I think it clumsy, not because I think it wrong) but I agree with Anastasia that is the correct modern plural. I much prefer Octopi to Octopuses - call me old fashioned. :)

I'm am exceedingly glad I didn't have to learn English as a second language - it can't be easy, it's been my world of language since the day I was born and I still have got the hang of it.

VP

Now you have hit the nail right on the head VP (lol). English is a most difficult language to master and seems to have very little logic to it. Like you, I am just very relieved I didn't have to learn it as a second language either.

Thank you very much indeed for explaining that Anastasia, it explains it clearly. I shall use the word moebiuses in future as that does make more sense to me.

Bernadette

It's only difficult because english is derived from both latin and greek, with some german and french thrown in.

sue

There are different styles of grammar -- Chicago Book of Style, Modern Language Association, Associated Press, etc. -- and they are not unanimous in what they feel is the proper plural, although most of them say that you can do either -- either make it look like a plural possessive as you did above or to add -es on the end, as in the old saying, "keeping up with the Joneses."