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Why is 'traffic' an uncountable noun while 'traffic jam' is a countable noun?

I have asked many people and also googled but didn't get a satisfactory answer

Edwin Ashworth
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Jonathan Smith
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  • I think you have the beginnings of an interesting question here. Can you maybe show a bit of research and expand upon it? – David M Oct 11 '19 at 03:13
  • 'Cattle' is usually seen as a 'non-count noun', and is certainly normally used in a non-count way. But 'cattle breeder', 'cattle drive', 'cattle egret', 'cattle grid', 'cattle market', 'cattle prod', 'cattle ranch, 'cattle rustler', 'cattle shed', 'cattle show', 'cattle truck' etc are compound nouns which are thankfully (from a linguistics perspective) count. There's nothing remarkable about 'traffic jams'. 'Water buffaloes /coolers / levels / mains / wheels ... // cutlery boxes / milk shakes / rice puddings (not that 'milks' and 'rices' don't exist).... The second noun controls countness. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 12 '19 at 15:48
  • To a large degree. Not, apparently, with Emails. And then 'light' is often used in count fashion, but 'moonlight' (I'll risk) never. 'Makings' is known, but 'glassmakings'? – Edwin Ashworth Oct 12 '19 at 16:07

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A traffic jam refers to a discrete event so it can be counted. Traffic refers to a collective thing and so it can't be counted.

The basic answer is that uncountable nouns are uncountable because you can't count them, they don't refer to discrete things and don't have a plural version. Countable nouns are single items or events and have plural versions.

Mike
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    If I have four slices of bread, and I put them in the toaster, why don't I get four toasts? If I go to a concert, and they play a suite by Bartok, a concerto by Beethoven, and a symphony by Mozart, why haven't I heard three musics? If I have a kiwi, a mango, and three strawberries, why don't I have five fruits? I can count all these things. Maybe your answer explains the way that countable/uncountable works in some languages, but not in English. – Peter Shor Oct 10 '19 at 21:31
  • You're counting the slices/pieces of toast/music not counting toast or counting music. For fruit it's a bit tricky because you can count types of fruit using just "fruit" so with a kiwi, a mango, and three strawberries you have 5 pieces of fruit but 3 fruits. – Mike Oct 10 '19 at 21:37
  • I don't know any other languages so I can't give answers about other languages handle nouns that are single things vs uncountable things. Is there a specific language you want it compared to? if so maybe add that to your own answer. – Mike Oct 10 '19 at 21:37
  • @PeterShor - If you think there's a better answer, why don't you submit it? – Hot Licks Oct 10 '19 at 21:38
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    Thanks a lot Mike. Your answer was really helpful and it was very kind of you. – Jonathan Smith Oct 10 '19 at 21:48
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    The point @PeterShor is trying to make, if I may be so presumptuous, is that it's not perfectly logical, countability is not identical to discreteness. – Mitch Oct 10 '19 at 23:21
  • There are lots of uncountable nouns in French, but I believe that nearly all of them are perfectly logical candidates for uncountability (names of languages, chemicals, abstractions), so people learning French don't worry about the grammar of uncountability the way people learning English do. – Peter Shor Oct 11 '19 at 00:34