Now here’s a debate that has been raging all over the net – when you order more than one pint of Guinness (as one often does!) there is always that slight awkward pause – especially for a linguist like myself – as to the correct word to use. My first inclination, and the version I use probably more often than not is to refer to multiple Guinnaeii. This usually gets a reaction varying between a laugh and a raised eyebrow, preparatory to someone about to … er… offering an alternative form of the noun.<\/p>\n
And as I think it through I would have to ask myself about the derivation of the word – clearly, if it had a Latin derivation then I might be quite close to the mark with Guinnaeii. This might even work with a Greek derivation (not sure about that). But we are not actually talking about a class of drink, which may have latin or greek roots in the phonemes. Instead, we are dealing with a brand name, a proper noun. For this reason I would probably avoid the ‘sheep’ example which would make it multiple Guinness. As a proper noun I suspect it would be like the plural of Jones – making it Joneses – and in this case I would suggest that the plural form Guinnesses would in fact be the most ‘correct’ for traditional grammarians. I suspect this one would also win on the basis of usage, although I have not taken a survey on this. Of course you can always avoid any confusion by referring to ‘pints of Guinness’.<\/p>\n
So there you have it – and while you’re there perhaps you can make it a couple of Guinnesses for me too!
\nAnd if you are in Ireland you would naturally avoid the English language as much as possible, so you would order thusly: “Piont (leath-phiont) Guinness led’ thoil”<\/p>\n
Cheers
\nJerry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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