For me, a tree has leaves, but a salad has leafs. The Toronto Maple Leafs team individual players are Maple Leafs. I am confident in (mis)using grammar in this way but wondering if other people do it too?

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[–] 50 points 3 months ago* (8 children)

For me it's always leaves, except for the sports team because that is a proper noun and they made it that way.

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 3 months ago (7 children)

    That makes sense! It's probably how most people use it. So when you are talking about the individual leaves in your salad, you would say leaves. To me the are salad leafs.

    I think I also leaf through the pages of a book, if that's related.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 months ago (6 children)

    Oh that's a good point, in verb form it could also be leafs ("she leafs through the pages")

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    So leaves is a noun and leafs is a verb? So what is it that the Toronto Maple leafs thru? A book? A fat wad of cash, maybe?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 17 points 3 months ago

    Leaves are for photosynthesis.

    For Canadians who hate the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans, Leafs is a source of schadenfeude.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Because they are named after a singular Maple Leaf they are all Maple Leafs. Like people that play for the Oilers are Oilers and not Oileronians.

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  • [–] 11 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Sometimes I see a flock of Nissan Leafs outside playing in the dirt

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Leafs: hockey team
    Leaves: someone making an exit

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago

    Plants have leaves and Toronto has Leafs.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    One is Canadians. The other are ex marijuana smokers

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (6 children)

    No, but patronize and patronize are pronounced very differently based on context.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    How so?

    I thought it was pronounced the same whether or not you're visiting their restaurant, or making a big deal about it because you think it is beneath you.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    If pat rhymes with hat, you're visiting the restaurant.

    If pat rhymes with hate, the thing is beneath you.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Thanks! TiL i pronounce both of them rhyming with hate

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Looks like it's a regional dialect, this entry shows that sometimes the vowel is changed depending on meaning and sometimes the same vowel is used for both meanings.

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/patronize

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    I think its mostly that I'm far more likely to hear british people use the word to mean looking down on, and americans are more likely to mean be a patron, so I conflated the difference into the meaning. But according to wiktionary I'm not the only one who does that so, maybe not.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    This leaves a stain in my brain.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    Leaves: Fall every autumn, beautiful greens to oranges, bring joy to everyone

    Leafs: Fail every spring, blue and white, bring joy to all hockey fans except their own

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    leafs is confusing for me 🤷

    i see this in my dictionary ☞

    (4chan, internet slang, humorous, sometimes pejorative, plural leafs) A Canadian person.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 child)

    Huh i never came across this usage before, good to know!

    For me it's more like a tree has many leaves, but I can collect 5 leafs off the ground.

    I am aware that this is Wrong. It just seems like a distinction to me about whether there are a vast generalized amount of leaves or a smaller, countable number of leafs.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    leafs is my username somewhere :neofox_baa:

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    simples, leafs is failure to reference, leaves is multiple leafs

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