Quote:
Originally Posted by AwakenxBenihime
Well what Columbine said is true, however in everyday language I've never heard the word ear used to count or describe anything else. I'm not sure if it's different in the U.K. than in the U.S. From what I understand it seems that with wheat for instance when it's being grown it's referred to as ears but the only measurement I've heard after it's harvested is "bails of wheat". Even then unless you're the person that grows the wheat on your farm or buys and sells large amounts of wheat for your job, you won't come across this term in everyday conversation.
|
Wheat's a really complicated example because it has different collective nouns depending on what ~part~ of the plant you're talking about. The 'ears' are just the top bit where the grain grows; you might count up to 10 ears, but above that, you'll likely use the collective noun for the whole plant, which is 'sheaves' here, or in your locality, 'bails'.