Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

Last week I was teaching an English class to one of my best students, who's actually a teacher of Arabic here in my town. On this one particular day, I was teaching him the various types of plural forms which nouns can take in English.

I was teaching him about how, with some nouns, one simply places an "s" on the end of the noun. For example, I told him that the plural form of "cat" is "cats," and that the plural form of "dog" is "dogs."

I was also teaching him that if, by adding an "s," it adds another syllable to the word, then one adds "es" onto the end of the word. For example, I told him that the plural form of "box" is "boxes."

After teaching him various types of plural forms, I finally told him that there is also the category of nouns which end in "o" and which have a consonant immediately before the "o." I told him that for some of these words, one just adds an "s," and that for others of these words, one adds "es." As examples of words in this latter category, words to which one adds "es" to make the plural form of the noun, I taught him the words "potato" and "tomato."

Anytime both of these words come up in conversation, I always think of the Billie Holiday song "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off." When I initially mentioned these words to him, I didn't tell him about the song. When he pronounced the latter word "to-mah-to," I could no longer resist, and told him, "So there's this song which goes like this: 'You say tomato, and I say to-mah-to, you say potato, and I say po-tah-to..."