No, it’s not. “Lego” was never intended to be a countable noun. It’s like “milk” or “water” in that there are only very specific circumstances that allow for pluralisation, and the usage in the comic isn’t one of them. Although, yes, it is a brand name. I’ll come back to that.
One country in particular, however, has decided that it is a countable noun, and so a lot of people grew up hearing it used as one, so they have very strong feelings about it when they’re told it’s wrong by people in countries who despair every time they hear it.
But here’s the thing, brand names work like uncountable nouns. Would you refer to your groceries as “<supermarket name>s”? What if they were all store-brand items? e.g. “In these bags I have my Walmarts”. If that sounds odd, that’s how using “Lego” that way sounds to people who don’t.
If you do do that, I’d be curious as to what parts of the world do that for multiple brand names, whether or not “Lego” is amongst them.
Never intended to be pluralised by the people who came up with the name. In German, I’d probably use it as it’s own plural (Räum mal dein Lego weg), but in English, pluralising it like that feels more natural to me (ten Lego bricks -> ten legos, three Aldi supermarkets -> three Aldis, two bottles of water -> two waters).
I get where you’re coming from but I think your examples are at the level of abbreviating “Lego set”, not “Lego piece” because of the groceries analogy. (I’m not comfortable with abbreviating “Lego set” that way either to be honest, but I admit that wherever the line into personal preference is, this is over it.)
Would you refer to a bag full of Aldi own-brand produce as “Aldis”?
In the comic, it’s bricks. For me, sets is a lot more context dependent. I’m not against it in principle, for what is a set but an amalgamation of bricks, but it only feels natural to me for a larger number of sets. In the end, all of this is pretty subjective.
As to the store brand example - most supermarkets around here don’t use their own brand name for their store brand products, but instead come up with brand names, sometimes different ones per product category. Still, I’d argue that even a selection of one of those brands would be a lot more varied than a bag of lego sets. The one might be vegan yogurt, tofu, and oat milk, while the other will mostly be cardboard boxes with plastic bricks, a manual, and maybe some stickers. One of them is a lot more closely related than the other.
No, it’s not. “Lego” was never intended to be a countable noun. It’s like “milk” or “water” in that there are only very specific circumstances that allow for pluralisation, and the usage in the comic isn’t one of them. Although, yes, it is a brand name. I’ll come back to that.
One country in particular, however, has decided that it is a countable noun, and so a lot of people grew up hearing it used as one, so they have very strong feelings about it when they’re told it’s wrong by people in countries who despair every time they hear it.
But here’s the thing, brand names work like uncountable nouns. Would you refer to your groceries as “<supermarket name>s”? What if they were all store-brand items? e.g. “In these bags I have my Walmarts”. If that sounds odd, that’s how using “Lego” that way sounds to people who don’t.
If you do do that, I’d be curious as to what parts of the world do that for multiple brand names, whether or not “Lego” is amongst them.
Yes I will pass you two Kleenexes. My shoes are held closed by some velcros.
I need two milks please.
Cow and goat?
Never intended to be pluralised by the people who came up with the name. In German, I’d probably use it as it’s own plural (Räum mal dein Lego weg), but in English, pluralising it like that feels more natural to me (ten Lego bricks -> ten legos, three Aldi supermarkets -> three Aldis, two bottles of water -> two waters).
I get where you’re coming from but I think your examples are at the level of abbreviating “Lego set”, not “Lego piece” because of the groceries analogy. (I’m not comfortable with abbreviating “Lego set” that way either to be honest, but I admit that wherever the line into personal preference is, this is over it.)
Would you refer to a bag full of Aldi own-brand produce as “Aldis”?
In the comic, it’s bricks. For me, sets is a lot more context dependent. I’m not against it in principle, for what is a set but an amalgamation of bricks, but it only feels natural to me for a larger number of sets. In the end, all of this is pretty subjective.
As to the store brand example - most supermarkets around here don’t use their own brand name for their store brand products, but instead come up with brand names, sometimes different ones per product category. Still, I’d argue that even a selection of one of those brands would be a lot more varied than a bag of lego sets. The one might be vegan yogurt, tofu, and oat milk, while the other will mostly be cardboard boxes with plastic bricks, a manual, and maybe some stickers. One of them is a lot more closely related than the other.