[Dusty Chalk]

According to Merriam-Webstwer, headphone: an earphone held over the ear by a band worn on the head -- usually used in plural.

I believe if you want to check up on the number thing, Bartleby's has a book on English usage, but if I remember correctly (IIRC), numbers and symbols are pluralized with apostrophes and s's. This does not indicate possession.

So, "a pair of headphones" or "a set of headphones" is correct.

A trick I learned from my ex: when in doubt, rearrange the sentence.

"I own a pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones." "The Sony MDR-7506/V6 headphones sound honky and dull." "What are the Sony MDR-V6/7506 headphone mods?"

There, no question.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by redshifter okay gloco, you do it your way, and i'll do it the correct way.

No, I think gloco's got it right. Quote:

but the numbers aren't being mentioned as numbers, rather as the manufacturer's code for a product. check the rule again.

What's the difference? As Joe (secretagent44) mentions, it can also be used as acronyms, I'm sure that can be extrapolated without too much pause to manufacturers' designations, many of which are acronyms.

 

[disturbed]

Ok After reading this thread I really got amused

We are turning into geeks...lets all do a mass buy on coke bottle spectacles and weird hair that flys in all directions and 5-10 pens to put in out shirt pockets

now just add a pair of headphones and we are there

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I think I'll stick with this grammar from now on:

'Get a pair of ER-4'

And yeah, you first disturbed

 

[MacDEF]

I said above what I personally use. Don't make me get out my Chicago Manual

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF I said above what I personally use. Don't make me get out my Chicago Manual

Go ahead. Whip it out.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

What's the Chicago Manual anyway?

 

[stuartr]

edit double post. sorry.

 

[stuartr]

Personally, I agree with Dusty and secretagent44, but why argue over semantics? Though Saussure might maintain that language determines reality, we all know what we are talking about right? We are not changing the headphone(s) by changing its nomenclature. There is no difference between a pair of ER-4S headphones and ER-4S's as far I am concerned. As for the apostrophe, it is just convenient to separate the plural designation from the rest of the alphanumeric sequence -- it does not necessarily denote possession.

P.S. Chicago Manual = Chicago Manual of Style -- an inferior version of Fowler's Modern English Usage.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by stuartr P.S. Chicago Manual = Chicago Manual of Style -- an inferior version of Fowler's Modern English Usage.

Hey now... inferior?

It's only the most well-known and respected reference of English grammar rules on the planet

 

[gaineso]

Quote:

Originally posted by redshifter okay gloco, you do it your way, and i'll do it the correct way. gaineso, but the numbers aren't being mentioned as numbers, rather as the manufacturer's code for a product. check the rule again.

Gloco's doing it right.

The manufacturer's code for the product is a number. A number is a number.

As I asked before, why are we going through this now????? With 7 700 threads and 90 000 posts, we've managed for a long time doing what felt good. Why must we change?

Besides, now we're further confusing the large number of members for whom English isn't their first language. The rules for something like this are so confusing that, IMO if you asked 5 PhD profeesors of English Grammer, you'd get 5 different opinions. We all know what we mean no matter how we post it, so what's the big deal??

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF Hey now... inferior? It's only the most well-known and respected reference of English grammar rules on the planet

Chicago Manual of Grammatical Style...We watch da Bearss whiles we's eats da brotts. That's stylin!!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Quote:

Originally posted by kwkarth Chicago Manual of Grammatical Style...We watch da Bearss whiles we's eats da brotts. That's stylin!!

Cool

Now back to listening to my EX70 and HD580s and EX70's and my pair of HD580 and my pair of EX70s and my pair of HD580's

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

The manufacturer's code for the product is a number. A number is a number.

okay, what does v6 + v6 equal?

 

[jude]

LOL! I finally read through this whole thread, and I'm in tears.

Oh, man, I'm not sure where I stand on this issue....but I guess I'll get back to listening to my MDR-V6's, HD-600's, and ER-4S's.