WTF is it with humans and plastic dolls of inexplicable attraction very decade or so?
this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
137 points (94.2% liked)
Linguistics Humor
1531 readers
201 users here now
Do you like languages and linguistics ? Here is for having fun about it
For serious linguistics content: !linguistics@mander.xyz
Rules:
- 1- Stay on Topic
Post about linguistics or language humor & memes - 2- No Racism/Violence
- 3- No Public Shaming No shaming someone that could be identifiable or recognizable
- 4- Avoid spam and duplicates
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Always two there are, no more, no less. A master and an apprentice.
Two labibi.
Foot -> feet
Book -> beek
Labubu -> labibi
Easy.
shoop>sheep
Wouldn't it be labubi?
Technically though it is permissible to modify other morphemes to aid pronunciation.... or avoid childish names for body parts.
Interesting, a combination of native Germanic ablaut and loaned inflection!
Yup. Totally and exactly my intention... those things you said.
foot -> feet is ablaut, changing the vowel in the root, also in break-broke, etc.
-i is a non-native plural suffix, e.g. cactus-cacti, octopus-octopi (from Latin), it's very unusual to loan these purely grammatical elements (morphemes)
Alternatively, labubu-labibi is a case of a changed transfix (singular: u_u, plural: i_i), or of vowel harmony. Either way, all very exotic for English standards :D
TY. Your first reply made me it and look up those terms!
This is exactly why I subscribed here today.
Las bubu. Like those monsters who insist on "attorneys general".
- mothers-in-law
- passers-by
- governors general
- notaries public
- sergeants major
- editors-in-chief
It follows a rule about compound nouns that is taught quickly around the 7th grade.
It follows French, where the adjective comes after the noun.
Or alternatively, due to turning the singular Spanish article "la" into the plural "las".
Like sheep. Two Labubu.
It sounds sumerian so I think labubuene maybe?
Probably "labubu". The -(e)ne suffix is mostly used with animated nouns, and since they're toys I'm guessing people would use the inanimate with them instead.
...unless it's part of some odd construction like "kings of labubu" (lugal labubu-k-ene) or "shepherds of labubus" (sipad labubu-k-ene) . Then you get the plural mark, but that's because of "kings" (lugal-ene) and "shepherds" (sipad-ene); those Sumerian case/number marks behave more like clitics than suffixes.
You can also stack them, and it gets messy (like, "labubu-k-ak-a-ne" tier).
they're are two labubi
One labubu, two ლაბუბუები (labubuebi)
one menu -> two menus.
one labubu -> two labubus.
One moose -> two moose.
One labubu -> two labubu.
Yeah, but moose is regular. Goose is irregular.
One goose -> two geese.
If irregular, we could have One labubu -> two lababa.
How many Joe are there over there?
Lebubai