A previous post concerning a pair of licentious Weetabix generated a huge postbag. There was no prurience, I hasten to say; the question was whether I was correct to use ' Weetabix ' as the plural form.
- Surely it should be ' One Weetabix ' / ' Two Weetabixes ', many asserted.
- Others are aficionados of ' One Weetabik ' / ' Two Weetabix '.
- I'm afraid to say a few make the common error of using ' Weetabi ' as the plural form.
- Latin scholars point to 'one matrix' / 'two matrices' to claim the plural is in fact
' Weetabices '.
It is my duty once and for all to clear up this common cause of contention in households across the land. There is no such thing as the singular form, because nobody ever eats just one. There is only ' Weetabix '.
In the next grammar lesson, I shall consider the adjectival form ' Weetabixy ' ("this unfamiliar cereal looks a bit Weetabixy") and the usage of ' Weetabixish ' on those common occasions when approximations to the well-loved cereal are encountered.
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