I'm learning English and I ask for your help.
Imagine that you are in a situation like this :
you're having dinner in a restaurant, sitting at the table. A waiter brings you a plateful of spaghetti. You are trying to taste some, but one long cord of spaghetti slips off your fork. It is now lying on the floor. So, could you tell me what do you call this separate thing?
An item of spaghetti? Or maybe just a spaghetti?
Sorry for such a dull question, but your help will be very much appreciated.
By the way, could you, please, mark you country (the UK or the USA).
Thank you.
2006-11-09 02:55:47 · 26 answers · asked by Lobster 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
dog food, us
2006-11-09 03:03:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, since spaghetti is just the name for the type of noodle, I would imagine that a single strand of spaghetti is just called spaghetti as well, but I would probably say a spaghetti noodle, or maybe a strand of spaghetti, so people would know I was just talking about one noodle that fell to the floor. A lot of people think spaghetti is a term for the plural noodles, since it ends in "i", and who knows? Maybe in Italy it is, but here, one spaghetti and multiple spaghetti are referred to with the same word. Hope I helped!
2006-11-09 02:58:58 · answer #2 · answered by fizzygurrl1980 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To be annoyingly pedantic, I might say, "I've dropped a speghetto on the ground."
The phrase "I've dropped a strand of spaghetti on the ground" would be appropriate, as would "I've drop spaghetti on the ground".
In English, certain nouns are considered 'uncountable,' meaning that they "cannot be used freely with numbers or the indefinite article, and which therefore takes no plural form†."
Incorrect: "I have ten spaghetti on my fork."
Incorrect: "I have a spaghetti on my fork."
Correct: "I have spaghetti on my fork" (no number or indefinite article)
Other examples of uncountables would be water and sand:
Incorrect: I have ten water in my glass
Incorrect: I have a water in my glass
Correct: I have water in my class. (no number or indefinite article)
Incorrect: I have sixty sand in my panties.
Incorrect: I have a sand in my panties.
Correct: I have sand in my panties. (no number or indefinite article)
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know which nouns are uncountables, other than by experience.
----
I'm a yank.
2006-11-09 05:20:42 · answer #3 · answered by Gin Martini 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
US-i would say a spaghetti noodle fell on the floor.
2006-11-09 02:58:25 · answer #4 · answered by ekenny513 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You could say "some spaghetti fell on the floor"
2006-11-09 02:59:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am English and would say "some"
Ive dropped some spaghetti
would you like some spaghetti etc.....
2006-11-09 03:24:44 · answer #6 · answered by whatev3r 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
- USA native speaker -
Spaghetti comes in "strings" so the item on the floor is a "string of spaghetti" or a "spaghetti string"
:)
2006-11-09 03:21:10 · answer #7 · answered by texazlady 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I always say.. oops I dropped a piece of spaghetti. US
2006-11-09 02:57:46 · answer #8 · answered by hot like me 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say "I dropped some (or ...a bit of) spaghetti on the floor" (UK)
Maybe some one Italian would say "...a spaghetto"? Is that the singular of "spaghetti", like "scampo" is the singular or "scampi"? Can someone who speaks Italian confirm please?
2006-11-09 03:05:00 · answer #9 · answered by anabelezenith 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would call it a spaghetti noodle or a strand of spaghetti. (I am from USA.)
2006-11-09 02:57:33 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
I would say nothing. If you discreetly dropped the strand of spaghetti, why draw attention to yourself? It would be incorrect to clean up your dropped food from the floor.--US
2006-11-09 03:40:02 · answer #11 · answered by waw1114 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋