Talk:spit in the ocean

Plural

@Einstein2 The use of "a spit in the ocean" in your citation is interesting. I can't easily find any plural "spits in the ocean" (only the verb form) because we don't usually talk about "a spit", only "some spit". Equinox ◑ 22:27, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

@Equinox Somewhat surprisingly, most Google News results seem to use the phrase with an indefinite article (perhaps influenced by "a drop in the ocean"?). Before adding the new sense, I also tried to search for the plural form without success. (I'm not sure what this use in Thunderball refers to.) Maybe it would be best to add "plural not attested"? – Einstein2 (talk) 22:53, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

@Einstein2: The Thunderball text refers to a totally different sense of spit ("a generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula"). Equinox ◑ 22:57, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

I read a spit as an act of spitting and that's why it has an article. It's the same way with (a) piss in the ocean. —Soap— 22:34, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

That's not how it's used though. Looking at the "a spit" example in our entry again, I see it's a quotation from one Lawrence Venuti, a translator, so he's probably not a native English speaker either. I think it may be a poor, unrepresentative example... Equinox ◑ 22:42, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Youre right, that's not ideal. I couldnt find the original quote anywhere, though, so it's possible it sounded better in context. Anyway I think we can agree that a piss is a common phrase meaning an act of urination, so a piss in the ocean makes sense in that sense. I will work on that latter entry when I get around to it, but I'll try to come back to this one too. —Soap— 22:21, 17 June 2023 (UTC)