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Comment by powerhugs | Hacker News Reader

Incorrectly top voted answers. "zeroes" is the plural form. The use of zero in "zero 3s" is not the number 0 but an adjective, synonym to "no" in that context.

The correct answer is the third one: https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/352496

I guess this is one of the reasons for the failing popularity of the Stack Exchange sites, simply voted best answers that are incorrect.

Similar to how you will find 30 incorrect upvoted seemingly correct-but-actually-incorrect answers to many reddit questions with the correct answer hidden deep down in the comments with no karma.

Similar how HN is turning out lately, too.

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This is incredibly confusing. Of course the plural of zero (as a noun) is zero(e)s. But then you state that you understand that it's not about the noun, and still go on to say that the answers sharing your view are wrong..?

I think you're misunderstanding the question — possibly for comedic effect (?), it's hard to tell.

"zeroes" is the plural form of the noun "zero", yes. But the question is about using the form "zero" as an adjective and how that should affect the plurality of the noun it applies to: "zero book(s)", for example.

I am not trying to be funny. It seems to me that you are misunderstanding the usage of the word zero in this context, as in absence of any. Synonymous to "no", as in "no threes".

It is not about the number 0.

OK, if you think I'm the one misunderstanding the question, can you explain how?

The example in the question is:

> For example, if we choose two 2s, zero 3s, and one 5

That's talking about "zero 3s", not "three zeroes".

I was too quick to press post, and I updated my above comment after you replied to it.

In addition, see the adj. definition of zero: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero_n?tl=true#1209971660

> That's talking about "zero 3s", not "three zeroes".

In this context "zero" is not a noun, but an adjective.

The body of the question makes it abundantly clear what the OP is asking, which has nothing to do with the plural form of the noun "zero". You could suggest an improvement to the title, but answering "zeroes" and pretending it's the only correct answer is being deliberately obtuse.

Huh? I thought I was being detailed.

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