(Still OT) Nationalism, language and monoculture [was Re: Python Worst Practices]

[Gregory Ewing]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> "please hand all monies to the bursar", 

I think that's another case of an implied unit, the unit
in this case being the money involved in one transaction.

> but it would be weird to say "please hand five monies to the
> bursar".

It would, but I'm not sure I could explain exactly why. :-)

>>In a lingustic sence the "a" is not a count -- that would be the word
>>"one" --, it is the indefinite article.

It still means one of something, though. If there's a
difference, it's that it's somewhat more vague. "There's
a fly in my soup!" is expressing surprise that there are
more than zero flies present. You are referring to the
first one you happen to see; there might be others, but
they're not relevant. Whereas "There is one fly in my
soup!" is being precise about the number of flies.

-- 
Greg