How does one say....

[BlueDaisy]

Ok....this has nothing to do with Lit stories, but it is something that has bugged me for almost 17 years now. I figured that the Grammar Experts here might be able to set my mind at ease.

Here is the situation: I have twins. When I am discussing the day they were born, for a party or something, I always wonder if I'm saying it correctly.

Would I say,

Their birthday is January 16th.....

or

Their birthdays are January 16th....

yeah, I know....what is the big deal. Well, it's bugged me for this long (they will be 17 in January), and I'd like to know! LOL!

Thanks....
Blue

 

[TheEarl]

You can say whichever one takes your fancy. "Their birthday" refers to them just having one birthday and would seem to refer to the date. "Their birthdays" seems to refer to the celebrations which are seperate.

Your choice, I think.

The Earl

 

[Chicklet]

wow, that made my head hurt.

might come in useful for my "twins revenge" story, though.

chicklet

 

[damppanties]

Why don't you just say - 'They were born on Jan 16th 19__'?

 

[Eldridge]

I guess it would depend how you are talking about them?

If you are referring to them as "your twins" (ie, making one entity out of them), I think you would say : Their birthday is.

If you are talking about Johhny and Susie, then you would say : Their birthdays are.

Right?

Eldridge.

 

[Pookie]

All I know is my mom always says ... "thank God you weren't twins"

 

[Vincent E]

Since you are talking about one day on which both of your twins were born I would use "their birthday." One day dictates the use of the singular voice.

 

[BlueDaisy]

wow, that made my head hurt.

might come in useful for my "twins revenge" story, though.

chicklet

LOL chicklet! How do you think MY head feels??? I've got to raise them! haha!
Twins revenge story? Sounds intriguing.

damppanties said:

Why don't you just say - 'They were born on Jan 16th 19__'?

Well, when it is appropo, I do. But sometimes it just doesn't "fit" the conversation to say it that way.

pookie_grrl said:

All I know is my mom always says ... "thank God you weren't twins"

ROFL!!! Yeah, that is how I feel about my son (9 years old). I'm sooo grateful that he wasn't twins, too!

Well, thanks for the opinions, folks. It has been enlightening!

Blue (thanking the good Lord that He "only" blessed me with twins and not triplets or more! LOL!)

 

[BlueDaisy]

Since you are talking about one day on which both of your twins were born I would use "their birthday." One day dictates the use of the singular voice.

That is what I usually say, "their birthday is..."

Blue

 

[Quasimodem]

"Their birthsday" (as in spoonsful) sound like you are claiming that they were born twice.

"Their birthdays" (as in days of the week) sound like you are claiming that they were born on separate days.

Of course, if you try to write it sensibly, according to how it happened, "Their birthday is January 16, 1986," some language freak will tell you that the pronoun and the verb do not agree.

Always remember. It is not grammatically incorrect to disagree with a grammar freak.

 

[TheEarl]

Always remember. It is not grammatically incorrect to disagree with a grammar freak.

Hey no-one should ever disagree with me. I'm not a grammar freak, I'm the grammar freak.

The Earl

 

[NoJo]

BlueDaisy,

Did you say "your lunches are ready", when you made them packed lunch? "your lunch is ready" when you made (the same, shared ) lunch for everyone?

It reminds me of a distinction about two ways in which we can count words:

We might say "There are about 100,000 words in English" and we also might say "There are about 100,000 words in Hamlet".

We' re talking, in the first case, in such a way that each word can only be counted once. In the second case, we count up each word, so we may count the word "The" hundreds of times.

Two different ways of counting words.


In your twins' Birthday example, BOTH ways are correct, but have very different meanings. After all, as a mother, you probably give them TWO presents (but maybe only one party!), because, after all, they are TWO people, both celebrating birthdays. So there are two 'Birthdays' going on.
But although there are two 'Birthdays' to celebrate, there is only one DAY they were born. So When the anniversary of that (ONE) day they were born comes around, you celebrate it, doubly.

I think you are probably doing what another mother of twins I know does, which is to make them feel more like individuals by using the plural for their two "special days". It's the celebrations that that are making you use the plural.


All of these are correct, I think:

The twins were born on the same day.
Their birthday is Jan 16th 1986
They like to celebrate their birthdays in different ways.
I'll be busy on Jan 16th, it's my twins birthday (they're having a joint party).
I'll be super busy Jan 16th, I have two Birthdays to organize.

(Gosh, that was probably the least erotic post I've ever submitted)