Slang vs slangs

[whl626]

As I know that slang is an uncountable noun. But can we add an ' s ' to mean different types of slang like what we do on ' foods ' and ' peoples ' ?

eg. I am running a company dealing in wine and foods.

eg. Peoples from different nations come to attend the world conference.

Thanks

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by whl626

As I know that slang is an uncountable noun. But can we add an ' s ' to mean different types of slang like what we do on ' foods ' and ' peoples ' ?

eg. I am running a company dealing in wine and foods.

eg. Peoples from different nations come to attend the world conference.

Slang is slang. I don't know of any reason to use slangs.

The first sentence should be: "I am running a company dealing in wine and food."

The second sentence should be: "People from different nations come to attend the world conference." Use peoples only when discussing nationalities. For example, you might say discuss the peoples of Europe or the peoples of Asia. There is probably no need for peoples unless you are writing a sociology paper.

:)

[whl626]

Thanks :)

It has cleared the mess :). In fact, I knew so well about the usages. It was just because they were not used in line with the grammar that made me wonder if rules were somewhat changed to fit the current trend.

[RonBee]

Re:
Peoples from different nations come to attend the world conference.

It is better to say countries there rather than nations. A nation is not so much a place as it is a people.

:)

[whl626]

" Restrict the amount and frequency of sugary foods. "

Regarding ' food ', I just came across this from a Darlie toothpaste advertisement. Even the formal advertisement also came to use plural on food.

[Casiopea]

There are signs in North American supermarkets that read "frozen foods" and "fruits".

I've heard the word "slangs" used as a blend for "slang (adjective) words (plural noun)":

How many slang words do you know?
I know a million slangs.

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by whl626

" Restrict the amount and frequency of sugary foods. "

Regarding ' food ', I just came across this from a Darlie toothpaste advertisement. Even the formal advertisement also came to use plural on food.

Since it is common to pluralize words by using an s ending, perhaps some non-native speakers pluralize words native-English speakers would not. In your example sentence, in this country (USA) we would not use foods. However, while it is rare, there are times when we would use it. Example: "Chicken is one of the foods I eat." Here is another: "It's one of the world's favorite foods." (I got the idea for that one via a Web search.)

Of course, more common is something like: "I'm going to go out to buy some food."

Foods is, apparently, used in many company names and also when discussing things like grain foods and other kinds of food.

If foods is in common usage where you are as the "plural" of food then it is probably the thing to do to join the crowd.

:wink:

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

There are signs in North American supermarkets that read "frozen foods" and "fruits".

I've never seen such signs, but maybe I'll look for them now.

:wink:

[RonBee]

Food and water are regarded as mass nouns and take singular verbs, while people is plural and takes a plural verb except in exceptional circumstances.

From a Google search:

• food = 33,600,000
  foods = 4,860,000
  
  foods:
  http://ms101.mysearch.com/jsp/GGmain...earchfor=foods
  
  water = 42,500,000
  waters = 4,150,000
  
  waters:
  http://ms101.mysearch.com/jsp/GGmain...archfor=waters
  
  people = 96,600,000
  peoples = 2,850,000
  
  peoples:
  http://ms101.mysearch.com/jsp/GGmain...rchfor=peoples

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by whl626

As I know that slang is an uncountable noun. But can we add an ' s ' to mean different types of slang like what we do on ' foods ' and ' peoples ' ?

eg. I am running a company dealing in wine and foods.

eg. Peoples from different nations come to attend the world conference.

Thanks

Yes- Cockney rhyming slang is an identifiablt and localised slang. It is different from others, so the plural would be possible if we were thinking about local, etc, variations.