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I have to say Dwarfs, because there exists an injunction against me calling them 'Stumpynolegshortarse'. Apparently, it's offensive.

And both Dwarfs and Dwarves are perfectly acceptable.

The plural of Smurf is of course Smurfs. Not Smurves.

Both "mice" and "mouses" are accepted as correct for that particular plural, but I'm an IT trainer and I've yet to meet a student who would say "mouses".

When more than one version of a word is in regular use it's almost impossible to say which is correct, since an "incorrect" or corrupted word that becomes more widely used than the original becomes correct too in time. Both dwarfs and dwarves are acceptable depending on the context as folks have been explaining.

Similarly:

Hoofs, Hooves - both acceptable.
Roofs, Rooves - both acceptable.

The English language is a collection of irregularities held together by bits of string. There are quite a few situations in which multiple spellings and pronunciations are acceptable.

Whilst I do use the '-ves' suffice on knife and many other '-f' plurals words, I don't use either 'dwarf' or 'dwarves'.

The little people I've worked with preferred "little person" or "freak".

Hums to himself ...
" ... short people got no reason to live ..."

Scipio Africanus wrote:In english, it is common knowledge that after an f, you have a ves for plural, eg; wolf wolves knife knives calf calves

So, why do you say dwarfs? Surely it is dwarves, in english.

This is about #23,576 on the list of things to worry about. In the words of the immortal bard: "Get a job you bums!"

Frazzled wrote:

Scipio Africanus wrote:In english, it is common knowledge that after an f, you have a ves for plural, eg; wolf wolves knife knives calf calves

So, why do you say dwarfs? Surely it is dwarves, in english.

This is about #23,576 on the list of things to worry about. In the words of the immortal bard: "Get a job you bums!"

Awww Grammar Teacher isnt a job?

And now for something cpompletely different.

English Assassin wrote:The answer, as anybody who could be bothered to check the OED would know, is that 'dwarfs' is in fact the correct English plural of 'dwarf'. 'Dwarves' was coined by JRR Tolkien for The Hobbit in order to give his fantasy stunties a more mythic air.

More properly, 'dwerin' is the 'correct' plural of dwarf, as it's a Germanic root. 'Dwarfs' is considered correct in British English as the '-s' suffix overtook the '-en/-n' suffix from other parts of the country (compare 'shoon' to 'shoes', or 'eggs' to 'eien').

Tolkien, as a keen linguist, insisted on 'Dwarves' to give the term a common plural with 'Elves' and establish both as fantastic species rather than dwarf humans.

Disney ran with 'dwarves' (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves) and that's popularised the '-ves' plural in the United States to the extent that some dictionarys (Collins, for example), regard 'Dwarfs and Dwarves' as equally correct, with 'Dwerin' as obselete.

Funny how language develops and progresses, eh?

Since English is such a complicated language, there is no hard and fast rule for this. When I looked on different grammar sites, some said that in the case of Dwarf, both are actually correct. Since it depends on the individual word, the best suggestion is to use a dictionary to double check to make sure you are using the correct plural of a word.

Aye, I've not known anyone who called them Dwarfs, always Dwarves, even those not into fantasy things, like my parents for example.

Apologist wrote:Disney ran with 'dwarves' (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves) and that's popularised the '-ves' plural in the United States to the extent that some dictionarys (Collins, for example), regard 'Dwarfs and Dwarves' as equally correct, with 'Dwerin' as obselete.

Umm...wot?

In English it doesn't matter which plural you use. If the English language made sense, "Through" would be pronounced "Thraw", Childs and Oxes would be real words and "i" before "e" except after "c" wouldn't be wrong 95% of the time.

Frazzled wrote:And now for something cpompletely different.

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

I was confused by this intially, but after looking into it a bit more, it does seem like something that changes depending on what franchise you're in. Personally, this one doesn't bother me so much. I can think of several more grievous crimes against grammar regularly commited by the Internet crowd.

What makes it even more confusing to me is the -ven suffix. Dwarven, as in something of dwarven origin. I've also heard dwarfish. Elven, elfin and elvish also seem to be interchanged frequently.

When something is much bigger than another

eg Jupier dwarfs its moons.

Edit
Note to elf: try not to miss consonants when typing!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

"Through" would be pronounced "Thraw",

Through would be pronounced "thruff"

see also Ghoti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti

When dwarfs are talked abut on this forum it is generally in their gamesworkshop guise, and as it is listed as dwarfs on the GW site, that is what we must call them.

and as it is listed as dwarfs on the GW site, that is what we must call them

In that case I will most certainly called them short arsed knuckle scrapers

reserving the term dwarves/dwarves for all others

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Edit
Note to elf: try not to miss consonants when typing!

Isewatudidther.

"Through" would be pronounced "Thraw",

Why?

Throo makes more sense then thraw.

Thraw (like cow) as in bough?
Or Throff, as cough?

Beregond wrote:And dwarfs IS the traditional spelling... you've been told that 'dwarves' was just an invention of Tolkein's, yet don't seem willing to accept (or even acknowledge) that answer

Of course I like to use both, because limiting your experiences is boring. Dwarfs, dwarves... why not have both? They are both perfectly acceptable within the bounds of the English language. Neither is 'correct', really, although 'dwarfs' is more likely to be so given that it is the plural for the 'dwarf people' that actually exist, rather than the fantasy Tolkein version.

Dwarrows is traditional (Old English). But I seldom use it these days.

I noticed some things:

Dwarf - Dwarves. Double consonant (rf)
Elf - Elves. Double consonant (lf)
Hoof - Hooves Vowel followed by consonant (of)
Staff - Staves Vowel followed by consonant (aff) (double ff's don't count)
Knife - Knives Vowel followed by consonant (ife) (e doesn't count)
Wolf - Wolves Double consonant (lf)
Calf - Calves Double consonant (lf)
Roof - Rooves Vowel followed by consonant (of)

Roof - Roofs Vowel followed by consonant (of)
Belief - Beliefs Vowel followed by consonant (ef) Has a similar word believe as a verb.
Surf - Surfs Double consonant (rf) with a "U" Surves would be to close to Serves.
Smurf - Smurfs Double consonant (rf) with a "U"

So at the end of the day it seems to have no clear cut rules.
Double consonants seem to use -ves unless they are "U"s or maybe "O"s. Like Scipio Africanus said hard to pronounce.
My Rule: Always use -ves unless it's hard to pronounce, sounds wrong or conflicts with another word.

Mouses is just plain wrong.
The ending -ish like in Elfish is from Modern German. They call Elves - Elven. So High Elves are "Hoch Elfen" and they speak "Elfish"
The word English comes straight from this old German suffix. The Modern Germans simply add a c: "Englisch"