In the original result of the Wug Test, children consistently produced wugs for the plural. However, plurals other than the standard wugs are sometimes used humorously, including wuggen (by analogy with oxen), weeg, and wuggi (by analogy with Latinate plurals).
It's when there are multiple species of fish. Mob guys are actually saying it correctly, as there are likely multiple types in the ocean when they lay people to rest there.
This test screwed me up in first grade. I thought it was some kind of grammar test so I kept asking if it was a verb, a noun, or an adverb. The test giver was some researcher and was convinced I wasn't taking the test seriously because I wouldn't say wugs. He got kind of angry and I found the whole thing to be kind of distressing. I asked to stop and he just got even angrier and said something like, "No one has ever had trouble with the wug test before". I was convinced I was bad at grammar for years after that. Anyway, wugs! =)
I mean, that could have been it, but it seemed like everyone else got through unscathed. I was older than average, I was 7 and the rest of the kids were 6. I think that was his explanation anyway.
It was awhile ago since I took the test. I definitely wasn't given this exact meme as a child though. I probably would have said wugs if I had been given this on a sheet of paper. I think the test was given verbally and he only busted out paper when I was struggling.
This sounds a lot like my reaction to questions in the test i got for autism (except it was writtwn so i just scribbled these thoughts out).
I don’t know if you are on the spectrum, but it sounds like the test giver would have been horrible at administering it to children on the spectrum either way.
I took a lot of tests for autism as a kid because I would stand on my toes. All the specialists said I wasn't autistic. I got my hamstrings stretched and I stopped standing on my toes.
Wugs, if its an Anglo root, unless it's derived from Latin "Wug*, wugīs" in which case there are two Wugi (wûg-eye). Unless its one of the random Latin words where we don't do that and it's still "wugs." Unless it's a loanword from germanic then we might anglicise it or we might say "wugar." Because eNgLIsH iS EaSY...
Wouldn't that be Wux, Wuges? It would need to be Wug, Wugines for the ol romans to not condense the word base into ending with x before English gets invented.
Correct! Thank you for catching that, I accidentally put it in third declension. So yes Wuges. I was referencing when second declension nouns borrowed into English sometimes remain -i for the plural (as in radii, stimuli etc.) So Wugus, Wugi.
Oh yeah and sometimes it's actually Greek causing irregulars (looking at you, criteria)...
Gleason devised the Wug Test as part of her earliest research (1958), which used nonsense words to gauge children's acquisition of morphological rules—for example, the "default" rule that most English plurals are formed by adding an /s/, /z/, or /ɪz/ sound depending on the final consonant, e.g. hat–hats, eye–eyes, witch–witches. A child is shown simple pictures of a fanciful creature or activity, with a nonsense name, and prompted to complete a statement about it
I don't think there is one beyond "hey look we all know this thing".
Americans: "We are a diverse patchwork of cultures and saying the US is one gigantic boring monoculture just because we share a common language is offensive"
Also Americans: hundreds of millions of people literally all relate to the same quirky element of childhood imposed through immense conformist institutions, can't even process the idea that other cultures exist that do not relate to this specific element.
This is because non-prime numers of wuggi are highly unstable and will split into separate prime factors of wug if there's enough space (and in most atmospheric conditions).
Yeah its a pretty famous demonstration of the fact that we learn grammar seperately from individual words. IE most people add s to the end because thats what we normally do when we have a plural, even though we dont know what a wug is
Yeah I think it's especially construction by analogy with similar words (phonologically or semantically), people tend to say words in a way similar to other words when their mind sees a possible pattern, e.g. if you know it's mug->mugs, hug->hugs, rug->rugs, pug->pugs, tug->tugs, nug->nugs, you think "obviously it's wug->wugs" for -/ʌɡ/ words, especially monosyllabic ones, but also maybe polysyllabic words or words that sound similar in some way but not the same, like -/ɔɡ/, -/ʌk/, -/gʌ/, etc. This also goes for words with somewhat different phonologies but similar semantics, e.g. if you know child(er)->children and broth(er)-> brethren, you'll probably think it would look something like sister->sistren (which is a less common dialectal variant actually). If you know goose->geese, foot->feet, tooth->teeth, you'll probably think it's moose->meese and noose->neece and shoop<-sheep and hoof->heef unless you have a reason to expect irregularity. Or mouse->mice and louse->lice, you'll probably think house->hice and spouse<-spice and blouse->blice.
But if you haven't processed enough words that pluralize in a way other than just appending /s/~/(ə)z/ to the end, you'll of course just think "gooses" and "tooths" and "fishes" and "foots" and stuff. Like what children do. Also common for children to say is "fishies" and "goosies" and anything else with /iz/ added at the end, since singular /i/ and plural /iz/ are common for adults to use as a diminuative/cutesy way of saying them, and the kids pick it up of course.
All these sound cursed, so I'd rather not think about it too much.
75 Comments
LordAmplifier@pawb.social · 113 pts · 2y
Wiktionary says
Wuggi sounds nice. Huggy wuggi :3
mipadaitu@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 2y
Wugopodes
LordAmplifier@pawb.social · 17 pts · 2y
That's Greek to me
:3c
Absolute_Axoltl@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 2y
Wuggingtons
Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 2y
Wuggi is the first thing that came to muh brain
JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works · 68 pts · 2y
My immediate thought was wug, like the plural of fish is fish.
KingJalopy@lemm.ee · 45 pts · 2y
Unless you're sleeping with them. Then it's fishes.
TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 2y
It's when there are multiple species of fish. Mob guys are actually saying it correctly, as there are likely multiple types in the ocean when they lay people to rest there.
cuchilloc@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
Or when they are weird
pancakes@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 2y
I thought the plural of fish was "wet guys"
BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Hats of for Luca Brasi
benderbeerman@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Like Kanye?
ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 63 pts · 2y
This test screwed me up in first grade. I thought it was some kind of grammar test so I kept asking if it was a verb, a noun, or an adverb. The test giver was some researcher and was convinced I wasn't taking the test seriously because I wouldn't say wugs. He got kind of angry and I found the whole thing to be kind of distressing. I asked to stop and he just got even angrier and said something like, "No one has ever had trouble with the wug test before". I was convinced I was bad at grammar for years after that. Anyway, wugs! =)
Stamau123@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 2y
Sounds like somebody was bad at giving out tests
ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 2y
I mean, that could have been it, but it seemed like everyone else got through unscathed. I was older than average, I was 7 and the rest of the kids were 6. I think that was his explanation anyway.
CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y
Based on the sentence construction it has to be a noun regardless of the meaning tho
ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 2y
It was awhile ago since I took the test. I definitely wasn't given this exact meme as a child though. I probably would have said wugs if I had been given this on a sheet of paper. I think the test was given verbally and he only busted out paper when I was struggling.
GojuRyu@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
This sounds a lot like my reaction to questions in the test i got for autism (except it was writtwn so i just scribbled these thoughts out).
I don’t know if you are on the spectrum, but it sounds like the test giver would have been horrible at administering it to children on the spectrum either way.
ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 2y
I took a lot of tests for autism as a kid because I would stand on my toes. All the specialists said I wasn't autistic. I got my hamstrings stretched and I stopped standing on my toes.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 59 pts · 2y
Chef@sh.itjust.works · 41 pts · 2y
Of them
XTL@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 2y
name_NULL111653@pawb.social · 39 pts · 2y
Wugs, if its an Anglo root, unless it's derived from Latin "Wug*, wugīs" in which case there are two Wugi (wûg-eye). Unless its one of the random Latin words where we don't do that and it's still "wugs." Unless it's a loanword from germanic then we might anglicise it or we might say "wugar." Because eNgLIsH iS EaSY...
originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee · 18 pts · 2y
Ooh sorry this is a weird one it’s actually “wugopodes”
1rre@discuss.tchncs.de · 14 pts · 2y
The correct plural is actually wug, or dialect weg.
Stamau123@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
There is no 'correct' wug plural, but the most common is 'wugs'
drspod@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 2y
Wouldn't a wug, wugis group noun be wuges plural?
eldain@feddit.nl · 3 pts · 2y
Wouldn't that be Wux, Wuges? It would need to be Wug, Wugines for the ol romans to not condense the word base into ending with x before English gets invented.
name_NULL111653@pawb.social · 2 pts · 2y
Correct! Thank you for catching that, I accidentally put it in third declension. So yes Wuges. I was referencing when second declension nouns borrowed into English sometimes remain -i for the plural (as in radii, stimuli etc.) So Wugus, Wugi.
Oh yeah and sometimes it's actually Greek causing irregulars (looking at you, criteria)...
almost1337@lemm.ee · 25 pts · 2y
My daughter does the opposite in such an intelligent way. Kix cereal for example - one piece of it is a kik. And the singular for clothes is a cloe.
Randelung@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 2y
And the singular of sheep is shoop.
YES IT IS SHUT UP
FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 2y
Brings new meaning to the Salt-N-Pepa song.
manucode@infosec.pub · 25 pts · 2y
Wüge
Psythik@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 2y
I don't get it.
Stamau123@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 2y
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Berko_Gleason
Psythik@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Okay but what's the joke?
azertyfun@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
I don't think there is one beyond "hey look we all know this thing".
Americans: "We are a diverse patchwork of cultures and saying the US is one gigantic boring monoculture just because we share a common language is offensive"
Also Americans: hundreds of millions of people literally all relate to the same quirky element of childhood imposed through immense conformist institutions, can't even process the idea that other cultures exist that do not relate to this specific element.
Stamau123@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Wug
Randelung@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 2y
This feels like a word that would be both singular and plural. Like sheep.
Two wug.
Robaque@feddit.it · 6 pts · 2y
Only if the amount of wug is a prime number.
This is because non-prime numers of wuggi are highly unstable and will split into separate prime factors of wug if there's enough space (and in most atmospheric conditions).
synapse1278@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 2y
Wugaux
tkk13909@sopuli.xyz · 13 pts · 2y
Wugoj
Magnetar@feddit.de · 8 pts · 2y
Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton?
tkk13909@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 2y
Jes :)
Magnetar@feddit.de · 2 pts · 2y
Certe la plej bona lingvo. Ĉu ekzistas lemmio esperanta?
tkk13909@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 2y
!esperanto@sopuli.xyz
Wilzax@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y
Woog
JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 2y
My vote goes to Woog as well
DaCrazyJamez@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 2y
Wugi
androogee@midwest.social · 1 pts · 2y
Waluigi
popcap200@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 2y
Wugopodes
imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee · 10 pts · 2y
Wuggas
Etterra@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2y
A group of wugs are a wiggle. A wiggle of wugs.
praise_idleness@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 2y
Kolanaki@yiffit.net · 9 pts · 2y
Wuggies
sparkle@lemm.ee · 9 pts · 2y
Is this the r/linguistics logo bird
Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 2y
Yeah its a pretty famous demonstration of the fact that we learn grammar seperately from individual words. IE most people add s to the end because thats what we normally do when we have a plural, even though we dont know what a wug is
sparkle@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y
Yeah I think it's especially construction by analogy with similar words (phonologically or semantically), people tend to say words in a way similar to other words when their mind sees a possible pattern, e.g. if you know it's mug->mugs, hug->hugs, rug->rugs, pug->pugs, tug->tugs, nug->nugs, you think "obviously it's wug->wugs" for -/ʌɡ/ words, especially monosyllabic ones, but also maybe polysyllabic words or words that sound similar in some way but not the same, like -/ɔɡ/, -/ʌk/, -/gʌ/, etc. This also goes for words with somewhat different phonologies but similar semantics, e.g. if you know child(er)->children and broth(er)-> brethren, you'll probably think it would look something like sister->sistren (which is a less common dialectal variant actually). If you know goose->geese, foot->feet, tooth->teeth, you'll probably think it's moose->meese and noose->neece and shoop<-sheep and hoof->heef unless you have a reason to expect irregularity. Or mouse->mice and louse->lice, you'll probably think house->hice and spouse<-spice and blouse->blice.
But if you haven't processed enough words that pluralize in a way other than just appending /s/~/(ə)z/ to the end, you'll of course just think "gooses" and "tooths" and "fishes" and "foots" and stuff. Like what children do. Also common for children to say is "fishies" and "goosies" and anything else with /iz/ added at the end, since singular /i/ and plural /iz/ are common for adults to use as a diminuative/cutesy way of saying them, and the kids pick it up of course.
All these sound cursed, so I'd rather not think about it too much.
Tamkish@programming.dev · 8 pts · 2y
There are two plimben
Theme@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 2y
Twugs
Stamau123@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
Twugs the night before Christmas
Theme@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 2y
No Twugs on Christmas 😢😢😢
guillem@aussie.zone · 8 pts · 2y
Kayday@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
Weese
Snoopey@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
Wugwug
Sorse@discuss.tchncs.de · 7 pts · 2y
There are two √ﷺ½⚠
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 2y
Wugim is biblically correct.
t_berium@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
It's obviously 'Weeg'.
BluesF@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
I would have put forward "weg" but I'll accept "weeg"
BreadOven@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Wugs.
ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 2y
lugal@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 2y
Wugor
match@pawb.social · 3 pts · 2y
there are two :3
nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org · 2 pts · 2y
Wugganna
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 2y
Wags
AVincentInSpace@pawb.social · 1 pts · 2y
wuggen
ornery_chemist@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 2y
fogstormberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 2y
wuggin
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz · 0 pts · 2y
T