I was watching an episode of Monk (S03E12), and in the first few minutes, the detective asks his assistant “Do you have a pliers?” That immediately struck me as weird, but later, towards the end of the episode, he makes the comment “This was cut with a scissors.” The only place I’ve ever seen ‘a scissors’ was in old Peanuts cartoons, and I’ve never ever heard ‘a pliers’, but I guess it could make sense in a way.

I grew up saying a pair of scissors or pliers, which is weird in its own way, since it’s a single object. I’m just wondering if anyone else has ever heard these terms.

    • OpticalMooseOP
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      1 year ago

      I know, right? I guess I should just chalk it up to “That’s just English being English.”

      I don’t know if all English is this bad or just something we Americans do.

  • octoperson@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Monk’s schtick is that he’s a bit of a misfit. It could be that the writers intentionally had him use the words ‘wrong’ as a character bit.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Definitely heard it before. It’s not right or common, but I know people used to say it in elementary school, teachers and some students.

  • Melllvar@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    The only place I’ve ever seen ‘a scissors’ was in old Peanuts cartoons

    I was going to say the same thing. It was so unusual that I specifically remember it after 30+ years.

  • BitSound@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve heard both “a scissors” and “a pliers”, but never “a pants” or “a glasses”. If pressed, I don’t think anybody would object to the proper term being “a pair of”. Since you mention Peanuts, maybe it’s a Midwest thing, since Charles Schulz grew up in Minnesota.

    • OpticalMooseOP
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      1 year ago

      maybe it’s a Midwest thing

      That could be it. I guess in the TV show, the writers are trying to show that Monk is an old fashioned guy who uses outdated terms.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why more words, when few words better?

    Most people just leave out the useless and awkward ‘a’.

    — “Do you have pliers?”

    — “This was cut with scissors.”

    Yes, I’m wearing pants and glasses

    • can@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      No, those are all plural.

      Why are we counting individual pieces of the scissors? Who knows.