No—“13000 WERE collected” but “MORE than 13000 WAS collected”

Madonna, we’re in 2010 and there are people who still say petlor instead of petrol.

The last time I visited Malta I heard someone on the bus reciting a recipe and saying ‘oksuwa’ (meaning one Oxo cube).

He said MATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Naughty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you were to read or listen to the English media, or even be a regular shopper, you’d quickly realise how wrong you are.

The Financial Times Ltd 2010
April 28, 2010
Humanity’s fight against Nature
…extremely costly.Millions of passengers were left stranded by a bureaucratic reaction…compensation claims.
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WERE SPENT on buying drugs and vaccines and on other…initial fears – has killed tens of thousands of people around the world in the…study and share results on the virus were too slow; and some countries proved… By Andrew Jack in London

Anthony, hemm ghalqa wara l-Munxar tidhlilha, forsi tizra kocc patata u naqa pastard for a rainy dejn?

@K. Farrugia
Does this help?
It says “Staff were also angry that thousands of pounds were spent on unofficial business …” And this is by the BBC.
Enough to disprove that it is not true that the plural can NEVER be used with money. What else did you learn at the University of London?

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/94135/bbc-spends-50000-pounds-day.html

@K Farrugia,
Why don’t you consult Maltastar’s editor about the correct form?

Jew forsi xi wiehed minn dawk li ghallem l-Ingliz tal-Matsec ta’ Michelle Muscat? Nahseb ikun professur tal-Ingliz tajjeb meta Joseph Muscat jiftah Universita ta’ Malta ohra.

Daphne, I completely concur with you that the official language should not be that of the uneducated and that the Maltese language has been ‘hijacked’ by the working classes.

However, I think that both the working and the higher classes are to blame for this state of affairs because, historically speaking, it was the higher classes who never acquired or abandoned the Maltese language.

I am not writing this to seek confrontation but rather out of a genuine interest in the matter and because you may give me a knowledgeable answer.

[Daphne – I think that if you have the time and patience to go back to the ‘arkotta’ debate on this blog (last spring) you will find most of the answers you need there. The debate went on for weeks because very many people find it as interesting as we do. The ‘higher’ classes did not abandon Maltese. That is complete fiction. The mistake is made because most of the professional classes were pro-Italy and believed we should be part of that country because we shared its culture (we didn’t) and so insisted on speaking Italian rather than Maltese. But they were just one group of people. The rest spoke Maltese. My family certainly did. They only spoke English when they had to, and they never spoke Italian.]