"I wear kilts," or "I wear the kilt." What do you say?

[andyfg]

Context has to define usage.

It would not be correct to say "I have 24 of the kilt in my kollection" but it would be correct to say "I am a proud wearer of the kilt of which there are 24 in my kollection."

That's quite helpful. Now . . . is there a general rule for contextual use?

[Jaggy thistle]

I would say I am wearing the kilt today but I would say there were a lot of kilts at the dance last night

[Jock Scot]

That's quite helpful. Now . . . is there a general rule for contextual use?

Oh crumbs!Now is the time for Jock to beat a hasty retreat.

[Standard]

Definately "The Kilt".

[Alaskan Kilted Guy]

Now I remember why I bombed the grammar portions of English classes as a lad!

[McClef]

That's quite helpful. Now . . . is there a general rule for contextual use?

I don't think I can quote contextual rules as such it's more instinct.

Take my rank - Grand Defender of the Kilt. I am defending the Kilt full stop but that defense could take the form of defending many kilts.

English is a strange language when it come to plurals and nouns in the singular can be used to stand for for more than one in certain situations.

And in others they just sound plain daft. When you are talking numerical plurals then s is the norm except when there is another plural word -ox, oxen for example or the famous singular and plural fish (though one can get away with fishes) or sheep which is never sheeps.

The phrase The Kilt is an individual abstract that can stand for the whole, the notion, the idea of Kilt, a representative of kiltdom. But when numerically counted (as in the numbers in one's kollection) then it should be pluralised with an s. Another example would be the Bible yet it would be Bibles when counting the number of them. Sometimes another word will carry the plural such as Books of Mormon, and in others a double plural is required - pounds of carrots.

We talk of exchange rates between the pound and the dollar yet we know this applies to every pound and every dollar. At the Bureau de Change we would then pluralise the amount we require to exchange however "a hundred pounds worth of dollars please."

So it's a question of experience and trying to apply logic more than anything else

[pdcorlis]

I say these are my clothes...

[Clockwork John]

I use both, and I think which one I choose is determined by the subject.

Singular subject: the kilt.
I wear the kilt.
He wears the kilt.

Plural subject: kilts.
They wear kilts.
We wear kilts.

I would also say "I have three kilts," not " I have three of the kilt."

[SportBilly]

I would also say "I have three kilts," not " I have three of the kilt."

See that's the deal-clincher for me and the reason why, imo, 'the kilt' isn't comparable to saying something like 'He's a man of the cloth'. 'The kilt' seems too specific. Before anyone gets all pedantic, I'm not suggesting it isn't correct, I'm just saying that it doesn't make sense to me.

[SteveB]

The kilt is one item. There are many (wishful thinking) a kilt in my kollection. The kilt I am wearing in my avatar is the Irish National tartan. The kilt kollection in my closet outnumbers the pairs of trousers. Why pairs of trousers? Silly me, they are bifurcated! I do not own pairs of kilt(s)! I could understand owning two of the kilt as meaning two of the same tartan, so as to be able to clean one and still be dressed in the same tartan. On this forum we might think of THE KILT as the X-Marks tartan done in a Newsome box pleat, such would be the use if we need to have an understanding as to the clan tartan, and the expected uniform of the kilt that we wear in a parade or other public association such as in Dumfries, Scotland on Burns night....( with humble respect to P1M ) Somehow my Boston voice cannot just say I have 5 kilt. It will end up with the "s" on the end. Much as we in Bahstan nevah use the letta "r". Instead we ship them to Indiana where they use them to do the warsh. In the U.S. there are many dialects of the common language spoken. I do not refer to our language as "English" as it is a far different language with a whole different colour than is found on the Eastern side of the Atlantic. The kilt is my daily kit. Kilts are my everyday dress. The difference is minor and certainly not worth arguing over.
As the forum guide says... Peace and chicken grease