A “buss” is not a motor vehicle

Add comment January 16th, 2009

Single-syllable words that rhyme with the pronoun “us” and are spelled with just one “s” are rare. I can think of only four, other than proper names and abbreviations: “bus,” “plus,” “thus” and “pus.”

When forming plurals for the first two — or other verbs forms for “bus” — the preferred option is to NOT double the “s”:

“I ride the bus to work. The city has a fleet of 20 buses.”

“She said she considers that a plus. Let’s weigh the pluses and minuses of the plan.”

Another factor in this preference: There is such a word as “buss,” meaning “kiss,” although it’s now considered chiefly dialectical.

Notice the difference between “He buses 45 students every school day” and “He busses 45 students every school day.” The former is a busy driver; the latter is a lawsuit waiting to happen.