drink/drinks stall

[tanelaine]

Is a stall selling drinks a 'drink stall' or 'drinks stall'?

Thanks.

[jno]

drinks

[boxtops]

drinks - you're selling more than one drink

[tanelaine]

Thank, Boxtops.

A shoe selling shoes is a shoe shop if I am not mistaken, although they sell shoes. Could you let me know why it should not be 'drink stall' unless it should be a 'shoes shop'.

Thanks again.

[jno]

no special reason; logic isn't everything in language (particularly the English language). If you wanted to open such a shop and call it The Drink Shop, nobody would tell you you were wrong; and you could call it a drink stall if you wanted.

But I think that's a rather less common form. I suspect 'stall' and 'shop' work in slightly different ways, though I have no idea why. If you were working at a church fete, for instance, you could well have a shoes stall and a dresses stall; in the high street it'd be more likely to be a shoe shop and a dress shop.

[Quizmonster]

I would certainly say drinks stall. However, the use of singular or plural forms is fraught with anomalies. For example, a pair of trousers is...or are (and there you go!)...clearly a single garment and, within the tailoring trade itself, it would not be unknown for someone to refer to "a trouser".

As J suggests above, it is probably best just to go with the version that sounds 'right' to YOU. English does not have the equivalent of the Académie Française, which lays down the law on what is correct. Mind you, the French just ignore the experts when it suits them!

[jno]

yes, my French teacher used to explain all the intricacies of the past anterior tense and conclude by adding "The French don't know this, of course!"

[Old_Geezer]

'Drinks' sounds right to me. I can see you could call it 'drink' on the argument that as a customer you can buy A drink there. Multiple times if you like. Yes, I suppose strictly speaking it should be a 'shoes' shop. Ultimately it is whatever catches on I guess.