A couple of Bonney

[OilyRascal]

These surfaced in my tool dig stops yesterday.  It seems we have a member with Bonney as a focus.......dang, what's his name again????  :)

His for the taking should he want them.  I recall his sending me a set of nice set of Thorsen pliers recently at no cost to me.

Related but not - why do we call them "pliers" or a "set of pliers" or a "pair of pliers"?  What makes them plural?

[Branson]

Grin, the same reasoning that gives us scissors and pair of scissors; tongs and pair of tongs; pincers and pair of pincers; shears and pair of shears.   I guess it's because there are two parts bound together by a pin or bolt, though there are scissors and sheep shears that are only one piece of metal with a spring at the back end.

[john k]

Another term lost in the depths of the English language.   But if we dig hard enough the truth is there, someplace.   Nice Bonneys. 

[rusty]

So much for my theory that it is a corruption of appliers ;P

[leg17]

Cause they're handy to keep in the pocket of your pair of pants.

[rusty]

The weird thing is, you don't "fetch a pliers", you  "fetch some pliers", so we do in fact treat pliers as plural...

So we can't blame it on the word pair...

[bonneyman]

I appreciate the kind thoughts, but I'm doing OK SAE wise. Just those pesky metric Bonneys that are eluding me.

And I'm glad you're enjoying the pliers. U R welcome.

[Branson]

Another term lost in the depths of the English language.   But if we dig hard enough the truth is there, someplace. 

Not too deeply though.  And the answer is:

Pair doesn't mean simply two originally.  It means "two associated with each other; a set of two. " (Oxford English Dictionary)  That's definition I.  Definition I, 1 reads, "Two separate things of a kind that are associated or coupled in use, usually corresponding to each other as  right and  left (less  frequently as upper and lower)." 

Even more appropriate to our question of the moment is definition I, 2:

 "In the names of single articles of clothing, instruments, or tools , composed of two corresponding parts, which are not used separately, and consequently are named only in the plural."                                       

[OilyRascal]

There you have it.  Thanks Branson!