User talk:Phrgit

I refer to your use of (s) to indicate the possibility of a plural or a singular. In the English language a plural is used even when the possible result is a singular, e.g. How many children do you have? I have one. There is no need for a bracket (s) in this scenario, so why do you need it with e.g. Spouse(s), Coach(es) etc. The (s) was introduced by programmers who did not know the result of a search, e.g. your search has returned 1 file(s). They did not want to add extra code to handle the return of only one file, so they came up with the (s) as a solution, but this does not mean it should enter the normal use of English. The solution has not been well thought through as not all plurals in English end in "s" and it is rarely used consistently. I note that when you describe a person's attributes, you will put spouse(s), but for their offspring you just put children. Surely, this should be child(ren) to remain consistent. Even more ridiculous, how would you handle, e.g. Number of wi(fe)(ves) or Number of octop(us)(ii) or number of sheep. It is unnecessary and it is ugly, it is never used consistently and it is not English. Please stop it.