Hosta or Hostas

[ogrefcf]

Saw it mentioned some where Hosta might be plural. So is it Hosta or Hostas? I butcher the English language enough as is so figure I would try to fix one more thing and see what others think.

[jgh]

I think the correct answer isn't on your list. I believe both are correct. The current nomenclature atmosphere is very tolerant of traditional Latin rules and common usages. I believe Hosta as a Latin term can be singular or plural, while our English language convention for making plurals by adding 's' is also considered acceptable.

[ogrefcf]

Thanks Jim (I think), corrected it. Obviously I never thought of that option . So how does one become as knowledgeable as you? I swear you know about everything! Thanks for the input.

[jgh]

My flip reply in the past was "just get older..." Like an attic, the brain tends to fill up with assorted junk...

But lately I am very aware of becoming dumber day by day, so I'll have to back off from the previous statement. In the past, when I walked folks around, I could identify most of my 800 cultivars without checking the name tag. This summer I found it much more spotty. I was very proud of my great memory - now I find not only gaps but clear errors in what I think I know. It has been humbling - probably a good thing!

So now I say "I used to be smart... and it didn't do me too much good!" A girl I knew from high school had an extremely high IQ and also extremely large breasts. She once told me "being smart is a lot like having these [imagine the gesture] - they don't do me much good and most of the time they just get in the way!"

The main character in the play "Harvey" (and good movie version with Jimmy Stewart) is Elwood P. Dowd. There is a conversation with a bartender in which Elwood says

"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' - she always called me Elwood - 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

[wendys_garden]

We must have read the same thing recently... I have always said Hostas, but now I seem to go back and forth referring to them both ways, depending on the day, apparently. My brain can't decide, so I voted for the "who cares, just plant them!"

[Chris_W]

I put down hostas as my choice, because when I talk about hostas I think of that as the common name and I'll always believe that it is one hosta and two hostas. But I can also see where both/either could be correct.

Every year someone will come into the nursery and ask me where they can find the hostases. I'm not kidding you - hostases. It is a running joke among us now, that we have a lot of hostases to plant today

[sweetee]

Well, before this post popped up, I decided to retrain my brain with the word "hosta". I was having a conversation on the phone (which wasn't clear anyway) with a friend. I told her I was growing hostas. Must have said the word 3 times, before she said; I thought you were saying "Hospice" ... BIG difference. So, I think I'll train my brain to say hosta. Unless of course I just say; those green plants with the long leaves you see everywhere. I'm sure Chris has heard something like that before.

[Tigger]

As long as it's not hosta's! (used as a noun)

Most of the time, we're using "hosta" as the common name for a plant in the genus Hosta. As such, it behaves just like any normal English word, and takes an "s" for the plural noun. "I have 205 hostas," but "I have 205 hosta cultivars" or "205 cultivars of hostas."

Still, I've heard a lot of well-versed people use "hosta" in a plural sense. ("This is one of the best hosta on the market.") Linguistically, one could argue that under the rules of Old English, it is often being used in the genitive case, where, as a feminine gender noun, hosta would have a weak plural and not take an "s." (No, I'm not making this up. This is why we may still say someone is "six foot tall." Some say that's a latent language instinct, but I think it's hogwash.)

On Chris's last joke: in our household, the word is breasteses (as in chicken parts).

[ogrefcf]

Jim, my guess is it would be fun hanging out with you. Thanks for the stories and the images . Breasteses and Hostaes two of my favorite things lol! Tigger, I used Hosta's. My butchery of the English language is really bad at times. I promise never to use it again! Feel free point out any other glaring mistakes and I will correct them! Oh and god bless spell check while I'm at it. Wendy love the vote!

[bkay2000]

Great Stories, Jim.

bkay

[Linda P]

Hostases...yes! My dear mother-in-law and her sister, and a few others in the family, have used that word as long as I've been growing them. I have the hardest time keeping a straight face. I believe that they think hostas is the singular form, so they must add 'es' to make plural.
Jim, as ever, you hit the nial right no the head. I was much smarter a few years ago than I am now. I have the same issue you do with the plant names. I've reached the stage where, when someone says "What's that one?" I am just as apt to draw a complete blank as I am to know the name. OF COURSE, as soon as we move past it and on to the next bed, the name comes to me, and I'm calling out..oh, you know..that big blue one back there? It's..................!!! thoroughly confusing the non-hostaphiles touring hte garden.
Owen, I can verify from experience that hanging out with Jim is more fun than you can imagine.
Tigger... ....'breasteses'............ Interesting, how your story segued rigth from Jim's!
Oh, and I second Wendy'sgarden vote!

Linda P

[isadora]

According to George Schmid,

http://www.americanhostasociety.org/pdf ... 060604.pdf

It's complicated, lol!

[rosemarie]

I have asked the plural question before.when I started reading this I thought I would have an answer! NOw I am more confused than ever! I think my brain is like one of those old desks (deskes?) with all the cubby holes and I have all these little notes with useless bits of information rolled up and stuck in the cubby holes. But every once in awhile an occasion comes up and I can use one of those notes, like i was doing a crossword puzzle and they had incorporated the names of the 7 original Astronauts and for some reason, (which I can't remember) I had memorized them and I was so jazzed, I knew them. And for some reason,' Hosta' sounds better than 'Hostas' to me.

[Tigger]

Schmid's rules are spot on for publications. Of course we don't talk in italics and abbreviations (LOL).

To me, it's easy: where you would say "roses," say "hostas." Simple English rules.

[thy]

Latin
Have to be

Hosta
Hostae

and then my garden is a hostarium

Honestly
One hosta
Two hostas

or terrible in Danish
Hosta
and hostaer

Since one hosta is not possible... hostas it have to be

[rosemarie]

I went back and read all the posts, even voted(the who cares one). They were funny, I cracked up. For you sweet people who have trouble with the English Language,I have come to the realization that it is one of the hardest languages (there is that 'es' again) for people to learn. There doesn't seem to be any set rules ( think rough, tough, bough, through,enough,for instance. and the "I before E except after C" thing ) I think I have learned alot as I have gotten older, I am just not sure if what I have learned is very useul, it seems to be mostly junk, which I will probably never use.(Unless of course I find another Crossword Puzzle with the 7 original Asrtonauts in it.

[scootersbear]

Going with hosta because if you look for hostas on ebay you get almost nothing.