GrammarBlog

Mocking Poor Grammar
Since 2007

A noun that is formed from a verb and which describes an action. In English it ends in -ing, eg 'the baking of bread' and 'Smoking damages your health'.

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7 Comments »

1. You went back? Those gateaux’s must be delicious.

   Comment by Gez — 31st October, 2007 @ 11:19 am

2. Hello ! What’s really funny is that in French, the ‘x’ at the end of gâteau shows that the word is in the plural. So this additional ‘s’ looks even stranger!

   Comment by Anne — 31st October, 2007 @ 4:55 pm

3. The food and drink is really good there. It’s just that whoever writes the menu is borderline illiterate.

   Comment by Tom — 31st October, 2007 @ 7:38 pm

4. Anne, that’s similar to the ubiquitous use of ‘paninis’ here. ‘Panini’ itself is a plural; ‘panino’ is singular. I could be wrong, but I’ve a feeling there is something similar with ‘pizza’. Where’s that foam bloke from the Dolmio adverts when you need him?

   Comment by Dan — 1st November, 2007 @ 10:41 am

5. Dan, I think you are wrong, panini is Italian for “sticker of football player”.

   Comment by Gez — 1st November, 2007 @ 10:43 am

6. Pizzi is the plural in Italian, but through English usage ‘pizzas’ has become the accepted form. If I ever heard anyone ask for a couple of ‘pizzi’, I’d smash my Nastro Azzuro in his or her [insert Sunday broadsheet here]-tastic face.

   Comment by Tom — 1st November, 2007 @ 2:21 pm

7. Dan, you can also buy ‘paninis’ everywhere here in France. And you’d be appalled at the use of the apostrophe in the words that French people like to borrow – incorrectly of course – from your language ! Adding apostrophes just anywhere definitely makes a word sound or look English! By the way I hope there aren’t too many stupid mistakes in my English!

   Comment by Anne — 1st November, 2007 @ 5:51 pm

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