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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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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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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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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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here we have plural (and anastrophe! )
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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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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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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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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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Oh thank you anna-- as i wrote that-- i thought were does it come from--but you're reply is exacting right--or is that write?
It was alway part of "she can dane to call her self the Queen of England, but it doesn't make it so...." and my M-W doesn't have dane meaning anything remotely like how i used it...
is a " a hares-breath? (vs a hairs breadth? some phrase i have totally mangled?) or is it some pecular phrase that no one else knows? Goodness knows i have heard it, and used it.. but i have no idea about it...
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(just ignore me as i scrap the egg off my face, from my hair... )
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I agree with you nemo, I think a woods sounds awful. A copse, a forest, the woods, would all have sounded better. Unfortunately, I am not nearly learned enough to tell you if this is really an error on their part. I have learned on this board that there are exceptions to the exceptions of the rules.
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of troy said : M-W doesn't have dane meaning anything remotely like how i used it...
is a " a hares-breath? (vs a hairs breadth? some phrase i have totally mangled?)of Troy, sweetie, try deign in the M-W or the SOED even. It's one of those pesky thingamees that we all stumble over now and then. I think "hair's breadth" is the phrase you're looking for. Breadth in this case meaning the width, side to side of a hair. The phrase means something very close i.e. "We missed death by a hair's breadth." That help? I'm pretty good at old timey sayings -- they were common currency in my long ago salad days! Love wow
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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.
The one way I can think is to unregister and re-register using Stranger as your handle. You'd lose what you have posted so far but you may feel it's worth it.
?????
wow
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>my long ago salad days!
okay, Tom bit, explain 'salad days' for us.
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It's a euphemism for one's youth. Now what does Tom bit mean?
wow
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what does Tom bit mean?
My guess is that he is making a kind of Tom Swifty, she answered quickly. A Tom Swifty is a special kind of word play wherein the adverb or verb refers back to a preceding word.
Ex: "A ruler", she said straightly; or, "Love your halo", he said angelically.
Tsuwm, kindly correct any errors I've made, please.
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>It's a euphemism for one's youth.
I was hoping for a more than just an appetizer, he replied tastelessly.
"My salad days, When I was green in judgment."
-Will Shakespeare
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If you go down to the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
You'd better go in disguise
For ev'ry bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.
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In reply to:
If you go down to the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
You'd better go in disguise
As Hercule Poirot would say, exactement! Try singing that delightful ditty with an indefinite article instead of the definite, and see how well it flows.
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Um, it seems to me (without any reference materials or anyfink loike thaat), that "the woods" implies more than one wood, i.e. a series of copses or small forests - or perhaps open forest land (lots of clearings). Therefore "a woods" would be an epistemological nonsense.
But it's just an opinion. It just sounds wrong!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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I was hoping for a more than just an appetizer, he replied tastelessly.
You may have just desserts, she said sweetly.
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One of our cricket fans says: a woods...It just sounds wrong!
Now you know how we baseball fans feel when we hear an innings
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Now you know how we baseball fans feel when we hear an innings... and talking about epistemological nonsense ....
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Pooh-Bah
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>I believe the British version is "out of the wood"?
You could be right, although I have only ever heard "out of the woods".
Regarding the rest of this thread, I have never heard anyone say "a woods" only "the woods" although now I think about it, people do talk about "a wood" sometimes. I wouldn't be surprised by the following usage "how about visiting a local wood to look at the flora and fauna?" I supppose it is a matter of context to avoid confusion with wood as in woodwork.
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Out of the woods and out of the wood sound just about equally familiar to me.
On the more general point, I think "the woods" is much more common simply because we're more likely to be referring to a particular known area of woodland. If I was speaking more generally I think I would say "a wood" or "a piece of woodland", but "a woods" doesn't raise my hackles in any way.
Bingley
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That's the first time I've encountered "a woods" too. We already hae "a links" and "an innings", but in these cases the original singular is not used. With woods we can refer indifferently to the same place as either a wood or woods, so with "the" or proper names such as Highgate Wood(s), they seem to be synonyms syntactically as well as semantically.
"Wood" is related to "divide" and "widow", its original meaning being a separating stand of trees
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