What’s with “multiple”?
 

Use of language on this forum and elsewhere is getting pretty bad. The latest, heard everywhere, including on major networks, is the misuse of the word multiple”. 8 is a multiple of 2, 9 a multiple of 3. What happened to what they really mean, like “several”, “a few”, “many”, etc.? Am I picky? Yes, words have meaning.

It seems to depend on whether multiple is used as an adjective - having or involving several parts, elements, or members.
"multiple occupancy" or as a noun in the math sense.

multiple definition - Google Search

The first thing that comes to mind is Orgasm. That’s basically because going down memory lane is phenomenal!

My biggest et peeves:
Rampant misuse of the word "myself". My team and myself performed well.
Ahead of. Just use the word before.
Behind that, just use the word after.

And worst of all, even newscasters are using that horrible dropping letters out of words. Saying diunt instead of didn't.

It’s probably because people learn a “proper” usage and then believe they are right. Last week someone claimed “golf” was not a verb - it is. Now a claim is made that “several” or “many” are not synonyms of “multiple” - they are.

Online dictionaries and thesauruses are easy to find.

I still prefer "a head of when the next word is "lettuce ".

What about this sentence
"Our test consisted of several multiple choice questions."

"

Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
mul·ti·ple
adjective
adjective: multiple

having or involving several parts, elements, or members.
"multiple occupancy"
numerous and often varied.
"words with multiple meanings"
h
Similar:
numerous

many
various
different
diverse
several
sundry
miscellaneous
manifold
multifarious
multitudinous
compound
collective
myriad

divers
(of a disease, injury, or disability) complex in its nature or effects, or affecting several parts of the body.
"a multiple fracture of the femur"
of or designating an electrical circuit that has several points at which connection can occur.

noun
noun: multiple; plural noun: multiples

1.
a number that can be divided by another number without a remainder.
"15, 20, or any other multiple of five"
2.
an arrangement of terminals that allows connection with an electrical circuit at any one of several points.

Origin
mid 17th century: from French, from Latin multiplex (see multiplex).
Use over time for: multiple

Oh great, we can vent our most frustrating language patterns and misuses. Difficult to make a choice, so many to chose from these days, but I have to select the word "like". I had the painful experience last week of taking a one day craft workshop. The leader/instructor was never able to utter more than 5 words in a row without inserting the word "like". Most of the time "like" was inserted after only saying 2 words, and at times she actually said one word, such as "prepare", and rather than finish the sentence with "the surface of your project carefully by cleaning it with a damp, soft, cloth", she inserted "like" after nearly every word. "Like prepare your like you know, surface like really carefully. You can like use most anything that will not scratch, but like most cloth is like ok if you like dampen, you know, like not real wet." Can you imagine listening to that for an entire day's workshop ? I was upset that I allowed myself to loose concentration.... I found myself COUNTING exactly how many times she would say the word "like" in a specific time frame ! I also soon tire of : goin, doin, swimmin, golfin, and clean-un the lanai ! LOL !

“Golf” “multiple” times per week and ya won’t have time to worry about proper grammar.

"A lot" will pretty much cover the problem.

Language is dynamic and always changing. which is why the Chicago Manual of Style has been updated, 17 times.

These days, you hardly ever hear anyone say, "we had a gay old time last night".

Which raises three questions.

1) What does "gay" mean?

2) Does the period come before or after the quotation marks?

3) Is "dynamic" and "always changing" in the same sentence. redundant?

Other than yourself, multiple posters don't give a damn.

:a040:

And the sun will set again today.

Fewer than vs. less than.

"A lot" would be great, if only people would spell the two words correctly. But it's apparently more important to ban books about Black history than it is to know that "allot" doesn't mean "a lot" and that "alot" isn't a word at all.

They could care less.

A lot - a piece of land

It also means "a measure." - as in, drawing lots, and the shortest/longest one wins/loses. Or as in, a vague quantity of something that implies "many/much/significant amount".

Susie has a lot of common sense.

There are lots of people here today.

Grammar is dead. Now that we can choose our own pronouns, the sentence "They is a pretty girl" is now correct.

He shore was, eh!?

Online dictionaries and thesauruses are easy to find, and changing with every new addition/edition. Bought 3 vintage at Friends of the Library sale, 2 dictionaries (both Webster) and a thesaurus. Amazing how they differ by year, and I also have my UNDERGRAD volumes, how very different they are !

Multiply
 

There are of course “multiples” of fractions decimals and even the square root of 1 (if you want to use i or -i). I don’t get your beef. Maybe you are thinking of the limited answers/products of your universe or paradigm using elementary type whole numbers?

Exactly, grammar's priority, as a "subject" of study, died with history, civics, and the rest of that old boring "stuff". Times change, rather for the better, or to our demise, only time will tell ... as they say.

Yes. Words do have meaning. And you are really setting yourself up for frustration if you get upset about what you feel is improper use of a word when it actually is not…

“A multiple in math are the numbers you get when you multiply a certain number by an integer. For example, multiples of 5 are: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30…etc.”

Nomenclature
 

Maybe the direct object isn’t a 5, it could be a slice of a whole cheesecake cut into eight pieces. In that case (forgive my restrictive clause), multiples of the slice are equal to 1/8th. I would gladly eat eight pieces to demonstrate 1 whole…lol.

The multiplicative inverse is the difficult part. Undoing the damage of 8 slices to the love handle appendages could be tricky.

Sorry! You lost me at "cheesecake". All that rich and tasty goodness. Oooo, soo good.

Gotta go!

Grammar is dead only to those who never paid attention in class.

'They are pretty."

Too bad the teachers are no longer allowed to teach this stuff, lest the alt-fact folks come around and slap them.

When you can show us where on the dolly the pronoun hurt you, maybe there'll be hope for a civil conversation about the topic.

Who needs civics and history when we can have artificial intelligence to do all our thinking for us? We should just all become worker drones. Life will be so much more simple while we enjoy our dinner of soylent green :)

Idc

You uns needs to git your Anglish straight. We's in the South Wherin ackcents means thingz. Us uns does jist fine understandin your high faluten Anglish. Multiples is whats we learnt in skool wit numbas.

I reread this multiple times, and I am trying to figure out why anyone should care? The trivial comments that we are subjected to several times a week, are enough to make me want to delete this forum many times....Not just a few on here agree..

:a20: Once asked Richard Lederer if "anal retentive" has a hyphen. He replied that he wasn't sure, but that it *did* have a colon. . .

Your final peeve is related to the “glottal stop,” a sort of gulp in the middle of a word in place of double T, as in ba’ul instead of battle and bo’ul instead of bottle. For some reason, it is becoming more common in the U.S., especially in Florida (I read recently). In the UK, it is a feature of many local accents, especially lower class ones. I find glottal stops offensive, but they are beyond my control. I’ve heard that the Lipton Company gathers these dropped Ts, rebottles them, and resells them as new or gently used Ts. Another organization gathers Ts for Tots around Christmas. In Nashville, a group of singers comments on T for Texas. In Boston, as well as in the non-rhotic parts of the UK, people save the Rs they drop in jars. (Or perhaps in Jaws—it’s hard to tell from the way they speak.) They can be recycled.

Glottal stops are an important part of Arabic, Hebrew, and other Semitic languages. Learning to use them properly is not easy. But in English, glottal stops are like smoking: a filthy habit that is hard to break.

It’s now pronounced “ki’’en” no need to bother with the T’s anymore. You know, when talking about a baby cat.

:bigbow: :mademyday: :boom:

Wow I was bored reading this thread. Multiple times.

"Multiple" can mean several, many, etc.
Multiple

• adjective
  
• Having, relating to, or consisting of more than one individual, element, part, or other component; manifold.
• Containing more than once, or more than one; consisting of more than one; manifold; repeated many times; having several, or many, parts.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

thread is very first world problems on display

Language
 

"Reporters" and newscasters are the product of government education. The End.