“Timeouts” or ...

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by Texanne, Jul 14, 2019.

  1. Texanne

    Texanne 5,000+ Posts

    I, like many of you guys, have been watching a lot of game replays on LHN in anticipation of the coming season. And I wonder why every announcer on the planet says “timeouts”, but Keith Jackson says “times out”. Once, he even said “timeouts”, then went back and corrected himself.

    A timeout is a singular thing. So would the plural be “timeouts”?
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. Vol Horn 4 Life

    Vol Horn 4 Life Good Bye To All The Rest!

    This is similar to my other conundrum of is it 20 RBI or 20 RBI's.

    I would go timeouts for the same reason I think it's RBI's. Time out and RBI are units of their own so multiple would add an s to the end to pluralize it.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  3. El Sapo

    El Sapo Bevo's BFF

    Large portions of my childhood were spent in timeout so this thread hits close to home.
     
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  4. Sangre Naranjada

    Sangre Naranjada 10,000+ Posts

    There are three time outs per half, so I suppose it's appropriate to have three duplicates of this thread.
     
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  5. BevoJoe

    BevoJoe 10,000+ Posts

    I’ve always used “time outs” to indicate a team has two or three available in the half. Time out designates one of the teams called one to stop the clock and/or the coach can talk briefly with the team.
     
  6. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    "Time-outs" plural for" time-out" in NFHS volleyball rules book.... So I'd say time-outs is plural .....
     
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  7. mchammer

    mchammer 10,000+ Posts

    Times out would technically be end of half or game.
     
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  8. HTownBevo

    HTownBevo 250+ Posts

    The coaching staff has improved in regards as to when to call for one. CS used to drive me crazy. :hookem:
     
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  9. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    Is this a contraction for “time is out” because if so we need to introduce some punctuation.

    I like this
     
  10. Statalyzer

    Statalyzer 10,000+ Posts

    Timeouts. A singular one is a timeout, not a time out. It is not a time which happens to be out. I hate when English pluralizes the middle of a single word or even a hyphenated phrase. Nobody would say "Ok I reduced these pictures down to thumbsnail so they'll fit in the email".
     
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  11. LAGA4

    LAGA4 500+ Posts

    Or the play clock, or the quarter.
    Isn't the offseason great?
     
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  12. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    Please Aug 02 get here NOW
     
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  13. mchammer

    mchammer 10,000+ Posts

    Times out was the option I was given. Texanne was speaking phonetically anyway.
     
  14. Texanne

    Texanne 5,000+ Posts

    I used to really love Keith Jackson, but his near-fellatio of USC when Pete Carroll was there changed my opinion of him.
     
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  15. ProdigalHorn

    ProdigalHorn 10,000+ Posts

    This is a pretty good explanation. I think if you're trying to be grammatically proper you're looking at this like "attorneys general", which would be the correct usage. But like you said, a "time out" is a single phrase. "Out" is not modifying "time."
     
  16. mb227

    mb227 de Plorable

    I am just old enough that 'timeout' was not a thing parents did...they just called it 'grounding.'
     
  17. mb227

    mb227 de Plorable

    WHOA NELLIE!
     
  18. stanhin

    stanhin 5,000+ Posts

    If "timeout" or "time-out" is considered a singular noun, then the plural of that noun is made by adding an "s" at its end--timeouts. If "time out" is considered a noun (time) that is modified by "out," then the plural would be made by adding the "s" at the end of the noun: times out. In standard sports usage, "timeout" is the noun, so the plural is timeouts.
     
  19. Statalyzer

    Statalyzer 10,000+ Posts

    Technically correct, yes, but I hate it and it usually sounds ridiculous.
     
  20. stanhin

    stanhin 5,000+ Posts

    I have not read all the posts in this thread (so sorry if this one already has been posted), but here's a clue in this morning's Newsday crossword: "Not quite winners." ....................................................................................................................................
    "Runners up" is the answer that fits the grid.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2019
  21. ProdigalHorn

    ProdigalHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Now I'm wondering where the phrase "runner-up" came from...
     
  22. Vol Horn 4 Life

    Vol Horn 4 Life Good Bye To All The Rest!

    The term runner-up comes from the dog track, where it referred to the hound that finished second in the final heat. An explanation dating back to 1890 states that "the dog last running with the winner is called the runner-up because he ran through the races up to the last race without being defeated once."
     

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