It occured to me that words such as pants and shenanigans are used only in the plural. The singular is lacking: you never fix a pant or commit a shenanigan.

What are others of this type, and is there a general reason that explains many of these anomalies?

Ah, but my dog has a good "pant"!

Scissors, breeches, trousers, tweezers, forceps, compasses (geom.), braces (US suspenders), coffee grounds, lees, grouchings (beer sediment), dregs, pliers, calipurs, jodhpurs, pyjamas, knickers, drawers, briefs, shorts, bloomers, culottes, spectacles, finings ...

It seems things which are bifurcated or powder-like are most likely to be used in the plural.

t seems things which are bifurcated or powder-like are most likely to be used in the
plural.
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Oh, am I confused! For years I've been serving myself with a salad tong and eating with a forks.

Seriously, I find it odd that a fork, which is seldom bifurcate, but three or four-pronged, is singular.

I have always said "shenanigan" anyway, and when I look it up on dictionary.com, it is listed as "a shenanigan", though it does say that it's often used in the plural.

Still, I agree with you that some it is strange that some words are singular (fork), while others (pants) are plural.

Now, Asa, I have to disagree with you about "tong"; I do say "tongs", and dictionary.com says, "To seize, hold, or manipulate with tongs." You wouldn't say to hold with a tong, would you?

[This message was edited by Kalleh on Sat Aug 2nd, 2003 at 14:09.]

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Seriously, I find it odd that a fork, which is seldom bifurcate, but three or four-pronged, is singular.

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Well, Asa, have you ever been at a backyard picnic with those wonderful plastic forks? You start with a fork, then a tine breaks off. Now you have a threek. Another tine breaks off and you have a twok. When one more breaks off, you call that an unk and throw the durn thing out!