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  1. #1
    Player
    Soleillante's Avatar
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    A'ine Yhisa
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    Diabolos
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    Thaumaturge Lv 60

    Inconsistent pluralization of "golden fleece"

    In the quest "Tresses in Distress" (Level 41, Eastern Thanalan), the quest NPC uses "golden fleece" as the plural of "golden fleece", while the quest log and tracking-notifications use "golden fleeces".

    For what little it's worth, I found the former natural and the latter jarring.
    (0)

  2. #2
    Player
    Rongway's Avatar
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    Cyrillo Rongway
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    Hyperion
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    Black Mage Lv 100
    Fleece is an unusual one because in its normal use it is a noun that represents an uncountable substance that must be measured using some other explicit unit. However, this golden fleece example is not its normal use. In this context, there can be "a" golden fleece, and multiple entities which are each a golden fleece can congregate into a collective of golden fleeces which can be counted. So I would side with the quest tracker on this one.

    Do you happen to have an exact quote from the NPC so we can better debate whether "fleece" or "fleeces" would be appropriate for their dialog?
    (3)

  3. #3
    Player
    Soleillante's Avatar
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    A'ine Yhisa
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rongway View Post
    Do you happen to have an exact quote from the NPC so we can better debate whether "fleece" or "fleeces" would be appropriate for their dialog?
    As follows (emphasis present in original text):

    Quote Originally Posted by Helmhart
    You know where to get snurble blood, don't you?
    ...Snurbles, you say? Wrong! You get snurble blood from golden fleece! Don't think about it—just go to the Burning Wall and kill five!
    I suppose I should clarify that I am and was aware that, in its customary use in modern English, "fleece" is uncountable, and that it regularly pluralizes as "fleeces" when used to mean "types of fleece".

    I just think having "fleece" be an irregular plural in this context feels more natural. (And apparently the author of Helmhart's dialogue agreed.) I have no concrete idea why I think that — perhaps it's due to buttressing by zero-inflection plurals for other animals (deer, sheep, moose, etc.) and/or the rhyming plural geese?

    No, it doesn't matter that golden fleece are classified as voidsent and not beastkin.
    (1)

  4. #4
    Player
    Rongway's Avatar
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    Cyrillo Rongway
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    Black Mage Lv 100
    Yeah in that line it doesn't sound wrong. But I think since they follow up with a number that you're expected to kill, it may be marginally better to resolve the inconsistency by using fleeces. But it's so small I wouldn't even argue very hard about fleece being a bad choice.
    (0)
    Error 3102 Club, Order of the 52nd Hour

  5. #5
    Player
    Iscah's Avatar
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    Aurelie Moonsong
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    Bismarck
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soleillante View Post
    and/or the rhyming plural geese?
    Would that make the singular creature a golden flooce?
    (2)