Strait (s)

[fredpuli47]

When is a strait 'straits' ? We have the 'Straits of Gibraltar' and the 'Menai Straits' (sometimes inaccurately termed the Menai Strait) but we have 'Cook Strait' yet neither the strait nor the straits seem physically different.

[kempie]

What is your source for 'Menai Straits' being the accurate terminology?

We have the Strait of Gibraltar and the Menai Strait (both sometimes inaccurately termed Straits) in addition to the many others around the world.

The only 'single name' straits that I can bring to mind are the 'Danish straits', a generic term for three distinct channels which transect Denmark; Great Belt (Storeb�lt), Little Belt (Lilleb�lt) and Oresund (�resund).

[THECORBYLOON]

Anglesey County Coucil calls it the Meanai Strait on their website. I think strait or straits is a matter of personal choice.

[THECORBYLOON]

Mind you they can type properly, it's MENAI STRAIT.

[kempie]

A strait is a narrow, navigable channel of water connecting two larger navigable bodies of water.

To prefer the use of 'X Straits' over 'X Strait' would be equivalent to a preference of 'English Channels' over 'English Channel'.

[dundurn]

I would like to be in just a singular dire strait. Unfortunately in my life they seem to always come in the plural!

Good band though!

PS Thanks for reminding me of the Little Belt, kempie. One of my favourite sea stories (based on fact but dramatised by Showell Styles) is about a Lieut Fitton who brought a convoy through the Little Belt during the Napoleonic Wars.

[Quizmonster]

The plural version of a singular strait, Fred, is common in everyday speech. Perhaps my memory is playing me false, but I'm pretty sure I've heard BBC newsreaders refer to "the Straits of Hormuz" when talking about Iran, the Gulf and so on.
It would appear to be just another example of how what is correct is abandoned in favour of what is most frequently said...usage, in other words.

[fredpuli47]

Kempie,concernig Menai, my original source was a Welshman called Dafydd (sounds Welsh enough to 'know'), who made that claim, complaining of the 'error'.My curiosity aroused, my later sources were found in old books, including Admiralty publications, which I traced online after googling the alternatives.

QM must be right, methinks. The correct form is whatever is in (forgive the wordplay) current use.

It's interesting that we say 'in dire straits' and not 'in a dire strait'. Either the comon form was always 'straits' or the plural is to emphasise the difficulty, it being more difficult to navigate a series of narrows (another plural: never 'a narrow' ) than just the one.

[Quizmonster]

It might be worth noting that The Oxford English Dictionary has this to say under 'strait' B 3 a after the initial definition...
"When used as a geographical proper name, the word is usually plural with singular sense" and refers to the Straits of Dover, Magellan and Malacca. It goes on to say re the Bass and Torres waterways that the singular/plural "usage is divided while Davis Strait rarely appears in the plural form". The phrase 'the straits' was used specifically for Gibraltar. It concludes, "The use of the plural for the singular began in the 15th century."

Given all that...particularly the use of the word 'usually'...I suppose I should take back my earlier suggestion that using the plural form is incorrect. 'Straits' certainly has a long history and it would seem that only usage determines whether it or the singular is employed in any particular instance.

[fredpuli47]

What would we do without you, QM ?