Is it Math or Maths? - Numberphile

An emotional subject for some - we ask a linguist about Math (US-style) and Maths (British-style).
More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓

Should be facsimile but you get the point - Brady's bad!

NUMBERPHILE

Videos by Brady Haran

[buca]

Use both forms to piss off both camps.

[stolenmuppets]

I don't have a problem with "math", "maths", "aluminum" or "aluminium", I have a problem with people correcting me about something that fundamentally does not matter.

[cloudvsephiroth]

Perfect book placement. "Semantics"

[SoteriosXI]

In order to keep pissing off the Brits, I think we Americans should start calling it "soccer" instead of "math".

[JakeFace]

I'm going to avoid the controversy all together and just say "mathematical sciences" every time.

[Iberastur]

You guys do realize that no one person makes a language and that English was not "invented" by the English, but rather it "evolved" there and spread to other areas of the globe. 

[Darkenfair]

I'm Australian so I say Maths, but I think the speaker in the Video does a great job of explaining the history of the word, and I've been convinced that both abbreviations are equally valid, and that it just comes down to national or personal preference.

[tonyfast]

Mathematics is neither singular nor plural.  It is a non-count noun like "water" or "peace."  This would also be true whether you say "math" or "maths." It is that simple.  This should not even be in the discussion.  It all boils down to one word becoming the common word in England, and the other becoming common in the U.S. - no different than petrol vs. gas or football vs. soccer....

[BearsThatCare]

It's almost like it doesn't matter

[appleintosh]

There's so many British people here doing the exact same thing that they bash Americans for. Saying "My country says it like this, so it must be right. Every other country that pronounces it like this is wrong." Aren't Brits the biggest hypocrites?

[skyrimmiryks]

The English language is all sorts of fucked up. I truly feel bad for anyone who is trying to learn English.

[NIXRevolution]

I used to have a friend in north korea, when I asked him how it was, he told me he couldn't complain.

[Mustardear]

I'm just here to fuel the fire with the subject 'statistics' and its commonly accepted abbreviation 'stats'.

enjoy!

[theBaron]

And while these things are interesting to me, as a language major, to get worked up about them is a waste of effort, a tempest in a teapot, to use a classic English saying.

[matheretterYT]

Maybe you should abbreviate like German speakers: "Mathe". No "s" at all, and not a single conflict between Germany, Austria and Switzerland on this issue ;-)

[Retrograde_cat]

This channel is making me dread the idea of ever visiting another country.

[technowey]

The point some arguing below missed is this:
"Do the math" is correct in the U.S., and "Do the Maths" is correct in Britain. No amount of discussion of what it should be makes sense. As any linguist will tell you, and as the linguist in the video did tell you, language is not logical. There is no "right" way, and in this case, there is not even a consistent way because other words in English are inconsistent. A "pair of pants" is just one item of clothing! Language makes no sense.

For more on this, read "English Our Crazy Language" (or some such similar title - my copy is elsewhere now) by Richard Lederer. He points out how we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway. When we drive a product to a customer, we "ship" it, but if we send it on a ship, it's cargo?

There are so many other examples in that book, some that we share with our British friends.

So, the Oxford dictionary and the Merriam Webster dictionary are both correct, and both are wrong!

[KubrickFR]

In french we say: "Les mathématiques sont fun" with a plural at every word (except "fun" because it is a foreign word)

[vikram.pandya]

I like how books in backgrounds are about Semantics :)

[MGShadow]

Yet another example of non-Americans, thinking American English is wrong by default just because it's American, when in reality, they're both correct, lol

I say Maths, and even though Math makes a little more sense linguistically, I think it sounds clumsy and I always treat Maths as an all consuming word - all things Mathy, lol