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In the end of the Pink Panther episode "Sink Pink", the pink panther says:

"Why can't Man be more like animals?"

Does this comparison employ correct grammar? It sounds wrong to me.

Link to original video

homework
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  • Similar: Is “They're not AS GOOD ACTORS AS he” grammatical? – herisson Jul 04 '17 at 01:47
  • Seriously...you are asking about the grammar on a cartoon??? – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 04 '17 at 02:13
  • @Cascabel They can't get it wrong all the time. Should OP have lied and said 'In a recent David Attenborough series ...'? – Edwin Ashworth Jul 04 '17 at 02:48
  • I think Man refers to mankind. – as4s4hetic Jul 04 '17 at 03:04
  • @EdwinAshworth As you well know, the definition of man v mankind has been discussed many times on this forum...Why should inclusion on the venerated Pink Panther series make it any more acceptable? – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 04 '17 at 03:53
  • @Cascabel As you well know, I'm addressing your comment 'Seriously...you are asking about the grammar on a cartoon???' and not 'the definition of man v mankind has been discussed many times on this forum' which would have been more appropriate in this case. If the example is reasonable, it doesn't matter where it comes from. But many posters find typically dubious usages in typically dubious comics etc. // I see you chose not to close-vote on grounds of duplication. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 04 '17 at 17:14
  • @EdwinAshworth Here is one possible dupe, and there are others. But my main objection to questions about grammaticality based on dubious examples is that there is never any claim that they are supposed to be grammatical in the first place. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 04 '17 at 17:27
  • This usage of Man as a confuseable synonym for mankind goes back at least to Damon Knight´s story "To Serve Man"... (1950) – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 04 '17 at 17:43
  • You could edit to provide a less dubious source; there are some for "Why can't Man be more like animals?". Babies and bathwater, potentially? (Here, there is a CV-reason). – Edwin Ashworth Jul 04 '17 at 18:03
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    @Cascabel I'm not sure how a claim to grammatical correctness in the source material in a question on grammatical correctness is required for the question to be valid. I think you'd have a lot of trouble trying to find examples where the author says "by the way everything you're reading here is completely grammatically correct, so feel free to discuss the correctness of my grammar in case you find it not to be correct". – homework Jul 04 '17 at 19:04
  • Part of the charm/humor behind the the dialogue in cartoons depends on the fractured grammar and mis-pronounced words. Can you imagine Popeye or Bugs Bunny speaking grammatically and yet still be funny? Apart from the slap-stick? Better questions would be about the analysis of the use of the mangled grammar, and how it actually works. Beyond that, I voted to close based on lack of basic research (I think). See definition 2.1 in ODO. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jul 04 '17 at 20:24
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    @Cascabel The "venerated" Pink Panther does not rely at all on fractured grammar or speech in general. This specific episode is one of the few that have the Panther speaking, and, I think, in an attempt to show sophistication, he is given a British accent. I don't think the argument of charm is actually relevant at all here.I also find it interesting that you would say that an analysis of a cartoon would be a better question, based on your previous remark. – homework Jul 05 '17 at 03:41

1 Answers1

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There aren't any grammatical rules that would make comparing a singular noun to a plural noun incorrect. But often it doesn't make much sense to do so because comparing a singular to a plural has an obvious difference of cardinality. It's like comparing apple to oranges.

I think if you replace "Man" with "Mankind" in your sentence, it will sound less odd because "Man" is often used non-collectively ("That man is nice"), but "Mankind" can only be used in a collective sense.

"Why can't Mankind be more like animals?"

"Mankind is animals."

This answer goes into detail about subject-complement agreement with respect to plurality. It holds irrespective of whether the sentence is comparing the subject to the complement or is very simple like "The thing is the books."

herisson
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Samuel
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