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OP
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I read this in the New York Times online today:
At the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Dr. Ricard V. Solé and Jose M. Montoya, theoretical biologists in the Complex Systems Research Group, have recently found the same kind of patterns by studying computer models of three ecosystems: a freshwater lake, an estuary and a woods.
My question concerns the expression "a woods." I have always thought of "wood" as a collective singular, and so I would say that a forest could also be called a wood. Is this usage incorrect? Assuming that I am wrong, is there anybody else whose sense of euphony is offended by the phrase "a woods"?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome aBoard, nemo. Confess I have never heard of where
you're from.
A woods does sound odd, doesn't it? But it's common, though we do say a forest.
(Oh, dear--I had a whole paragraph of what I thought at the time was a sensible explanation, until I re-read it. I'm going to let somebody else take over, and go try to straighten out the tangled scramble of my brain!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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I can't see the forest for the trees, id est: nemo's E-mail address: nowhere@never. Great stuff. Alliterative and multilingual. Jackie, I've also never heard of where nemo is from. I have my suspicions about that umlauted ë, though 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Nemo, I don't know about the correctness of "a woods" but I very much like its poetical sound. Around here we use "woods" to mean a stand of trees less large (that would be smaller wouldn't it  ) in acreage than a forest. There is an area of about an acre covered with large trees, maples, one big oak and some trash trees just down the road from where I live. Children play there all the time and tell their parents they are going to play "down the woods." No help at all, was that?  wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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here we have plural (and anastrophe! )
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Carpal Tunnel
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"who's woods these are, i think i know.. Robert Frost.
and "Into the Woods" was a B'way musical a few years ago.
I think i would talk about the woods-- when my daughter was younger she hung out in a local park--in one of the less developed sections-- the woods..
I saw the same article and didn't think twice about the woods..
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OP
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In reply to:
I saw the same article and didn't think twice about the woods
I'm still a stranger here, so I will try to express myself a little more clearly. I use the expression "the woods" often, and, like you, would not think twice about it. The reason behind my creating these alarums and excursions was that I have never seen, and do not like, the expression, "a woods." I would have preferred to read " a forest", or, "a woodland area."
As an aside, is there any way that one can retain the designation of "stranger"? I really like it, and would love to keep it, if that is possible.
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Carpal Tunnel
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here's one possible explanation: the word 'wood' originally meant 'a tree' (now obsolete).
here's another thought: in the US we have the expression "out of the woods", I believe the British version is "out of the wood"?
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Carpal Tunnel
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As an aside, is there any way that one can retain the designation of "stranger"?
alas, no-- i liked it too.. Stranger than what or who? i remain, two standard deviations from norm.. giving form to the bell curve.. no matter what Anu danes to call me.
and yes-- i always use the with woods-- but i am usually speaking about a specific woods. a woods would be a hypothicical woods.. and not being an ecological scientist, i don't think about a woods.. a while back we had a thread on "neck of the woods"-- but that was about necks.. Long island sound seems to have more than its fair share of neck's.. so much so, some places have none at all..
Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother house we go,
the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh..
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Helen remarks: .. no matter what Anu danes to call me. If Anu's a Dane then I'm the Queen of England.  nemo, you CAN retain "stranger" but you'd have to stop posting.
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