Talk:excreta

English: "plural only" or "uncountable" designation?

The listing currently designates excreta as "plural only", but I wonder whether "uncountable" (like traffic) would be more appropriate.

If excreta is truly plural then we should say "these excreta" rather than "this excreta" (plausible). And we would have to say "fewer excreta" rather than "less excreta" (plausible). And we would be able to say "seven excreta" and "nine excreta" (questionable); but we get stuck on *"one excreta" though — unless we backform *"one excretum".

If excreta is truly uncountable then we should say "this excreta" rather than "these excreta" (plausible). And we would have to say "less excreta" rather than "fewer excreta" (plausible). And we would not be able to say "seven excreta" nor "nine excreta" nor *"one excreta" (which solves the above problem).

—DIV (49.181.112.131 10:45, 13 November 2021 (UTC))

Yes, it's plural, e.g. from Google Books: "Human excreta are made up mostly of urine and excrement..." Equinox ◑ 10:53, 13 November 2021 (UTC)

I'm still not completely convinced. There are plenty of counterexamples. E.g. from [1]

• "This excreta is typically mixed with wash water" [2]
• "As this excreta is very acidic" [3]

Or from [4]:

• "Humans produce less excreta" [5]
• "less excreta will be deposited on other pasture areas" [6]

And this from a dictionary (of all places): "Excreta is the most deadly form of waste, and too much care cannot be exercised in disposing of it." [7] (Expand the section Examples from literature.)

—DIV (1.145.49.50 13:35, 15 November 2021 (UTC))

No dispute of my citations, but I compromise and add the following

"Although strictly a plural noun, in practice the word is occasionally used as if it were an uncountable noun."

which seems pretty useful and uncontroversial.

—DIV (49.181.188.7 13:08, 30 November 2021 (UTC))

Contrast with Talk:feces, but see also faeces and faex.

—DIV (1.145.91.247 13:48, 3 November 2022 (UTC))