English Lesson: What’s the Plural of “Vinyl?”

If you more than one record, you have “records” or “albums.” But if you have a lot of vinyl, what’s the plural of that? “Vinyl,” right? As in “I have a bunch of vinyl on my shelf.” No one says “I have lots of vinyls in my collection.” At least not yet.

In another example of someone having too much time their hands, an individual named Aaron Henager has launched a Change.org petition to official give “vinyl” a plural form i.e. “vinyls.” It doesn’t sound quite right, does it? But Aaron is undeterred.

There is a small but vocal cabal among the vinyl enthusiast community who seek to control the language of our hobby via bullying and ridiculing those who use the term “vinyls” to describe 2 or more units of vinyl recorded media. In an effort to promote inclusiveness, we would like to have the term “vinyls” enshrined as the official plural term for vinyl recorded media. This will also serve the essential purpose of annoying people who would rather ridicule a complete stranger than say something encouraging to a fellow “vinyls” collector, especially those who may be just getting started in the hobby.

If you feel strongly about Aaron’s position, you can go here. But you probably have better things to do.