Plural of calf (as in the back of your lower leg)

[Chaya Eve]

I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/

But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?

Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

[Colonel Edmund J. Burke]

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

BTW, I look pretty good from the waist down (if you catch my drift) for so old a guy.
Probably because I'm Italian.

Perchance there is someone out there to shed a little light on this subject?

[Peter Young]

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".

Peter.

[b***@shaw.ca]

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".
Peter.

Here in Canada also. It's calves all the way down.

bill

[Dingbat]

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".
Peter.

Here in Canada also. It's calves all the way down.

Horses don't have calves but calves can have horses - charley horses!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_horse
Charley horse (or charlie horse) is a popular colloquial term in Canada and
the United States for painful involuntary spasms or cramps in the leg
muscles, typically lasting anywhere from a few seconds to about a day.

[Joy Beeson]

Post by b***@shaw.ca
Here in Canada also. It's calves all the way down.

And Americans, at least those I know, say "calves".
I don't recall ever seeing "calfs".

[RH Draney]

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".

And both words pluralize the same, or this t-shirt doesn't work:

Loading Image...

....r

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".
Peter.

+1; "calfs" looks weird. Until now I've never seen it.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".
Peter.

+1; "calfs" looks weird. Until now I've never seen it.

Irregular in Dutch too, 'kalf' kalveren.
Someone should delve deep into ancient roots,

Jan

[Anders D. Nygaard]

Post by J. J. Lodder

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".
Peter.

+1; "calfs" looks weird. Until now I've never seen it.

Irregular in Dutch too, 'kalf' kalveren.
Someone should delve deep into ancient roots,

Quite regular in Danish: "kalv", "kalve" (for the young cow;
the back of your lower leg is "læg", "lægge", also regular.
And clearly cognate with "leg").

/Anders, Denmark.

[Madrigal Gurneyhalt]

Post by Peter Young

Post by Chaya Eve
I find that the plural of the baby cow is calves
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-plural-of-calf-is-calves-or-is-it/
But what's the plural of the back of your lower leg?
Seems that "calves" just looks wrong.
Calfs looks better.

Not to one who has used BrE all his life. "Calfs" looks plain wrong,
and the spelling checker agrees. We would always say "calves".

We would but its not obvious that we should. We do for
consistency between the two uses (young cow and part
of the leg) but the etymology is totally independent.
Moreover, the regular 'calfs' (strictly speaking 'calfes')
was in common use at least until the beginning of the
18th Century. As irregulars tend to have a relatively
short life I wouldn't be at all surprised if 'calfs' became
the norm at some point in the future.