At 1:23:48 PM on Friday, December 19, 2008, Andrew Jarrette
wrote:
> --- In cybalist@... s.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
> <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>> On 2008-12-19 18:00, Andrew Jarrette wrote:
>>> Yes, <these/those police> is probably acceptable,
>>> although I seldom hear anything other than <the police>.
>>> More likely one would say <these/those policemen> (or
>>> <police officers>, especially if women are included).
>>> But I disagree: I don't think one can say "ten police"
>>> or "I counted seven police", at least I wouldn't say
>>> those. One would more likely say "ten police officers"
>>> or "I counted seven policemen". So I think <police>
>>> behaves more like <cattle> (takes a plural verb) except
>>> it's usually prefixed by <the> and whereas one might say
>>> <some cattle> one wouldn't say <some police>.
>> Constructions like <two police arrived at the scene> or
>> <twelve soldiers and four police were injured> can be
>> found quite often especially (though not exclusively) in
>> British and Australian/NZ English; at least one can
>> google up a fair number of examples. They may be
>> journalese for <police officers>. Here's a typical
>> example:
>> "Two police arrived to arrest Mrs Cairncross at the
>> senior school assembly and took her away in a police car
>> with blue lights flashing."
>> http://www.oldws. org.uk/In_ Touch_Spring_ 2007.pdf
>> The accompanying photo shows two police officers of
>> different sex.
> I think it's journalese short forms. I know I wouldn't say "two
> police arrested me" or "he was arrested by two police". I would
> always add <-men> or <officers>.
It's not exclusively journalistic usage. A few minutes with
Google got me the following examples, none journalistic.
'So how many police will this cost?'
'Do you realize how many police it would take to ...'
'No matter how many police, I'll try every night.'
'How many police should there be?'
'How many police to stop a car :O'
'How many Police are there?'
'Also, how many police do you think know what ...'
'Do you really need 50 police dressed as ninjas ...'
'I looked over ... and saw three police pinning one person
to the ground.'
'Just as I saw him, I saw two police rolling up on mopeds.'
'When they sent the drone in, I saw two police with
shields and hand guns follow it in.'
'Then I saw four police coming up the stairs.'
Brian
OK, but I think examples like the ones you have produced are reflections of a tendency for people to imitate journalistic usage. I guess I use more old-fashioned language. I know I would not use <police> in the cases of the examples you have mentioned. Would you?
Andrew