[Trinidad]

lamford, on 2012-September-30, 06:07, said:

And, on a more esoteric note, what is the plural of "second bite of the cherry"?

"second, third and fourth bite of the cherry"

Rik

[gwnn]

I agree with gnasher but maybe it should be 'second bites at cherries' instead?

[ArtK78]

blackshoe, on 2012-October-01, 06:00, said:

second bites at the cherry.

Agree, otherwise it would be a second bite at a different cherry.

[gwnn]

ArtK78, on 2012-October-01, 07:14, said:

Agree, otherwise it would be a second bite at a different cherry.

Which is exactly the intended meaning. I believe lamford is looking for the correct form of "Are second bites of/at (cherry/cherries/...) allowed?" Each situation forms a different cherry, and in each case one of the players wants to have two bites of that particular situation/cherry.

[Vampyr]

I think that it is important to keep the sense that it is one cherry, with multiple bites being taken of it.

[gwnn]

Vampyr, on 2012-October-01, 08:03, said:

I think that it is important to keep the sense that it is one cherry, with multiple bites being taken of it.

Are you sure that this is the question? In that case it would be 'third bite of the cherry' and in general 'subsequent bite(s) of the cherry' but I think the point is there are many cherries and there are two bites taken of each. At least this is how I interpret the question: the point is not that East doubles again and again and again, with S presumably bidding spades again and again but that there are many of these situations where someone wants to take a second bite at that particular cherry.

East has maybe a Q above minimum but it's an aceless hand with no extra distribution. To me it's a close call, it's not just that I could see myself pass.

[blackshoe]

gnasher, on 2012-October-01, 06:26, said:

You can get four bites from one cherry?

Sure, if the cherry is big enough or the bites are small enough. Wtp?

[richlp]

lamford, on 2012-September-30, 06:07, said:

---

Hybrid scoring (60% IMPs, 40% BAM) Lead T♣ Table Result EW +200

This was a ruling and an appeal in the Lederer. It appears to just be a judgement issue as to whether Pass is an LA on East's third (corrected, sorry) turn. The players were of a high standard - the holders of the Lederer, and double winners of it. EW argued that double on the previous round could have been around 9-11, but East had significant extras. NS argued that the BIT by West made it easier to find that double. How would you rule?

And, on a more esoteric note, what is the plural of "second bite of the cherry"?

I don't think there is a plural. "First bite", "Second bite", "Third bite", etc just like "First bit of the byte", "Second bit of the byte", etc.

[barmar]

How about "additional bites of the cherry"? This tangential discussion probably belongs in the Water Cooler....

[phil_20686]

you can have `two bites of a cherry', but `the second bite' is not a plural. You certainly cannot have `second bites'

[WellSpyder]

Vampyr, on 2012-October-01, 08:03, said:

I think that it is important to keep the sense that it is one cherry, with multiple bites being taken of it.

I think it is important to remember that if you ask a sensible question and a trivia question in the same OP, you are likely to get far more answers to the unimportant question that the one you really intended to ask.

[gnasher]

phil_20686, on 2012-October-01, 17:40, said:

you can have `two bites of a cherry', but `the second bite' is not a plural. You certainly cannot have `second bites'

There are two people and two cherries.

Fred takes a bite from Cherry 1. The he takes a second bit from Cherry 1.

Next, Bill takes a bite from Cherry 2. The he takes a second bite from Cherry 2.

How many "second bites" is that?

[gordontd]

gnasher, on 2012-October-02, 02:41, said:

There are two people and two cherries.

Fred takes a bite from Cherry 1. The he takes a second bit from Cherry 1.

Next, Bill takes a bite from Cherry 2. The he takes a second bite from Cherry 2.

How many "second bites" is that?

I want to know where these people are getting their cherries. I tried to buy some yesterday and they seem to have suddenly gone out of season. Unless Fred & Bill have bought them all up.

[gwnn]

gordontd, on 2012-October-02, 02:48, said:

I want to know where these people are getting their cherries. I tried to buy some yesterday and they seem to have suddenly gone out of season. Unless Fred & Bill have bought them all up.

I'm sure any cherries bought this time of the year will taste disgusting, therefore I have no idea why people would take even one bite thereof, let alone two.

I also want to know whether really this many people are ignoring my posts, I resolved the dilemma long ago but people are still posting the wrong answer.

At the risk of derailing this thread , which one is correct? Bite from/at/of a cherry?

[Zelandakh]

richlp, on 2012-October-01, 12:25, said:

I don't think there is a plural. "First bite", "Second bite", "Third bite", etc just like "First bit of the byte", "Second bit of the byte", etc.

Just the same as Andy's cherry example. Say I have a datastream and take the second bit of every byte in the stream and transfer this into a database. I now have a database of second bits.

You can even have two second bites at a stretch. Say we agree to take turns biting a cherry. I take a bite, you take a bite. Then I take a second bite but it contains a worm and I spit it out. "That bite doe not count," say I and take a second second bite. So I took two second bites. Now you take a second bite - that is 3 second bites of the cherry. Logically there is no proper answer to the plural for second bite of the cherry, not because it does not exist but rather because you have to specify what is in plural - the cherry or the bite or both. To take a bridge equivalent, it is the same as asking the plural of a card from the deck. Cards from the deck, card from the decks and cards from the decks are all possible but have different meanings.

[gnasher]

gwnn, on 2012-October-02, 03:16, said:

I'm sure any cherries bought this time of the year will taste disgusting, therefore I have no idea why people would take even one bite thereof, let alone two.

Apparently Blackshoe has been genetically engineering the cherries to make them big enough to get four bites from, so they may not be safe to eat anyway.

Quote

At the risk of derailing this thread , which one is correct? Bite from/at/of a cherry?

A "bite at the cherry" is the action of biting it, not necessarily successfully.

A "bite of the cherry" is a piece of cherry that was removed by biting.

I think a "bite from the cherry" might be either, but if it's the action it implies success.

[lamford]

gwnn, on 2012-October-02, 03:16, said:

which one is correct? Bite from/at/of a cherry?

When you google the phrase, you get, on the first page, seven of the phrase "second bite of the cherry" and four of the phrase "second bite at the cherry", a total of 22 bites I think. One entry has both, as there are ten entries per page. All we really can conclude is that "second bite from the cherry" is likely to lose its deposit ...

In Tiger Woods' case it is probably "a second bite from Cherry", or "a second bite of Cherry".

[gwnn]

Zelandakh, on 2012-October-02, 03:24, said:

To take a bridge equivalent, it is the same as asking the plural of a card from the deck. Cards from the deck, card from the decks and cards from the decks are all possible but have different meanings.

"Card from the decks" is possible but it is definitely not a plural of "card from the deck". The noun we are talking about is the card, so that is definitely in plural ("from the deck" is just a modifier).

[lamford]

barmar, on 2012-October-01, 13:00, said:

I don't think 73C is supposed to force you to do something stupid, just because you have UI.

I agree. I suggest that it lowers the bar so that if there is any chance you would select a demonstrably suggested bid you have to do so.

[Vampyr]

gnasher, on 2012-October-02, 03:39, said:

I think a "bite from the cherry" might be either, but if it's the action it implies success.

Or perhaps it means that the cherry bites you.