I recently had an encounter with a staff member at a health care provider's office that made me wonder whether there are dialects in which "two pairs [of something]" can be interchangeable with "two [somethings]."
In this case, the person was an African-American man, probably less than 30.
I said that I needed "two pairs" and as the conversation progressed, I realized that he thought I just wanted two/one pair. I had to specify -- "I need two pairs, that's four: two for the left and two for the right." And then realization dawned on him.
This incident got me thinking. Has anyone encountered situations in which "two pairs" is interchangeable with "two"?
Pants and scissors come to mind, among the other odd singular pair words.
"Two pairs of pants" are two articles of clothing.
"Two pairs of scissors" are two tools.
Well, those are of the special category of things that are spoken of as pairs in the singular. And there doesn't really seem to be any ambiguity in those cases.
Think of shoes and socks. I'm asking about situations in which:
"I need two pairs of shoes/socks" might be understood as meaning "I need two shoes/socks" (i.e., one pair).
But your question above was:
... made me wonder whether there are dialects in which "two pairs [of something]" can be interchangeable with "two [somethings].
...
Has anyone encountered situations in which "two pairs" is interchangeable with "two"?"
Pants, glasses, scissors, etc. certainly qualify.
As for any ambiguous cases, none come to mind.
I disagree with AnMa's second post. I cannot imagine anyone thinking that "two pairs of shoes" could ever mean two shoes. In no situation can I think of "two pairs" being one left and one right, as with this situation. Now, "two pairs of panties" could be two garments or four, and "two pairs of glasses" could be two items or four, and so on for other conjoined items.
IMHO, the more likely explanation is some sort of mental hiccup, where his brain heard "two" and "pair" and equated them. I don't know if there's a word for this. I bet dollars to doughnuts that if you had asked for three pairs, you would have received six items.
I have caught myself many times trying to say a word, stumbling over two equally good word choices, and spitting out a chimaera of the two (eg Big or Large, and I spit out Barge)--i wonder if it's a related phenomenon?