In case you missed what Chris Jordan wrote at 17:19 +0000 on 060103
Downs (geographical) are a plural word. I have never heard of them
addressed singly always en masse eg "the South Downs are situated to
the North of Brighton" ... you can however find uses as in "the
South Down Hills", and that sort of geology (chalk hills with short
flowery grassland) referred to as "Downland"
So what is (are) X Downs plus Y Downs plus (all the other) Downs?
Are (Is) they collectively The Downs or just plain Downs?
I have always used the singular for the breed and so do the UK breed
societies eg www.southdownsheepsociety.co.uk, which refer
exclusively to Southdown sheep. (except perhaps if you say "a flock
of Southdowns" in the same way as you would say a "flock of Texels")
Agreed, but the question is what does one call all the breeds collectively?
Other parts of the world may (and it looks like they do) vary :-)
Chris
In non-downland Cheshire - which does not appear to have a sheep
breed of its own :-(
But you have the fictional and famous cat.
Ron
To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
