singular of hose

[piperdbh]

Did we ever decide what the singular form of "kilt hose" is? Since, in this usage, "hose" is plural, what do we call just one sock?

[imrichmond]

Did we ever decide what the singular form of "kilt hose" is? Since, in this usage, "hose" is plural, what do we call just one sock?

Sock, as in "Your left sock is slipping down." Never heard it called anything else.

[Bruce Scott]

Hose is both singular and plural, however, in old English the plural was hosen, as in this line from A Lyke-Wake Dirge:

If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane

[cck]

If you are speaking about sock or stocking, hose is singular and plural. If you are referring to something you would use to water your lawn, turning on 2 hoses might sound better.

[LitTrog]

I prefer the phonetic route and go with 'ho'.

[piperdbh]

I prefer the phonetic route and go with 'ho'.

So does Santa Claus wear three socks?

[OC Richard]

I prefer the phonetic route and go with 'ho'.

Ha!

There is a long-established thing in English called back-formation, where we take a singular noun that happens to end in "s" and remove the "s" to create a false singular, like "bicep" (biceps is singular).

[OC Richard]

If you are referring to something you would use to water your lawn, turning on 2 hoses might sound better.

Wow that brings up the thing of whether "hose" (in the sense of rubber tubing) is a count-noun or a non-count-noun.

Normally I think it's the latter, and one would say "a length of hose" just as one would say "a length of tubing". It would sound odd to say "I bought two tubings" for example.

I think though that "hose" in that context is understood to be short for "garden hose" which is a count noun as in "I bought a new hose for the back yard" or "I bought two new hoses for the back yard".

English is very complicated that way.

[MacGumerait]

Did we ever decide what the singular form of "kilt hose" is? Since, in this usage, "hose" is plural, what do we call just one sock?

We call it just one sock .

[Jock Scot]

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----- what do we call just one sock?

Just call me,"Lonesome".