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.
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.
Your comment comes up blank. Lemmy bug?
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.
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.
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