Hi again,
Which of the following is grammatically correct?
[color=blue]More Australians die each year from testing 9V batteries with their tongue than from snakebite.
[color=blue]More Australians die each year from testing 9V batteries with their tongues than from snakebite.
So, should it be tongue or tongues?
Thanks in advance.
Hi, you can use either. Makes little difference.
I suppose it could be argued that Australians is plural, therefore tongues should be used, but that would be really finicky.
C’mon, 9 volt batteries? This is urban legend though. You’ll note that it’s always Australians who die from this… 
The point that snakes kill very few people in Australia is a valid one, (something like 41 people between 1980-2009, roughly 1.5 people per year), but the 9 volt battery is a false one, at least from touching it on your tongue.
Quote:
Dr Xheng Hu of the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of Sydney confirms that a 9V battery does not have enough voltage to kill a person by testing it on the tongue.
He adds: “It cannot be entirely excluded however. If a person is very ill, for example, has heart problems, or has a heart pacemaker that could be disrupted, and so on, they could possibly die from testing the battery in this way. But normally it wouldn’t happen.”
theregister.co.uk/2006/07/28 … y_battery/
I heard it was about 3 people each year, so I personally believe it’s possible.
You’ll note that it’s always Australians who die from this…
ROFLMAO at this comment.
Here’s the list of statistics I originally read, but this time it says in Britain instead of Australia!
Hmm, note that article just says “batteries”. Sure, a big enough battery would have enough volts to push the amperage through your skin’s resistance, and possibly kill. A big battery. But if you’re licking big batteries anyway, you probably need to die anyway, and cleanse the gene pool.
I just don’t think a 9-volt has the amperage, unless of course, there are extenuating circumstances. Note one of the confirmed 9v deaths was by a guy testing internal resistance, (he actually pierced his thumbs, and the amps were drawn across his heart via the bloodstream), not external resistance.
Good thing, or I’d probably be dead myself. I’ve tested a few 9v’s with the tip of my tongue, I admit.
The rest of those on that list, I’m sad to say, I have no trouble believing. People do dumb stuff. Darwin awards, indeed.
I’m fascinated! These statistics seem to be all over the internet (mostly attributed to Britain) but are also claimed to have come from Australia, the USA, Ireland, Scotland, etc… for example:
"3 Scots die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue. 142 Scots were injured in 1999 by not removing all pins from new shirts.
58 Scots are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers. 31 Scots have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in.
19 Scots have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate. Scottish Hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year after Xmas cracker-pulling accidents.
18 Scots had serious burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth. A massive 543 Scots were admitted to A&E in the last two years after trying to open bottles of beer with their teeth."
But I can’t find a source anywhere! So I wonder where the statistics originally come from!
Not from Scotland … that’s for sure.
Why not? Are they too clever? 
That’s exactly why I suspect it’s an urban legend, when nobody can pinpoint the source.
It’s one of those I “I heard it from X who heard it from Y who said that Z told him that A said B reported C had been told by D…” 
Yeah, the nationality always changes on these kinds of things. Whomever is retelling it, either inserts their own nationality into the joke, or if it’s derogatory, inserts the nationality of whatever particular nation they don’t care for.
Sometime the language gives a clue. Notice the terms ‘fairy lights’, ‘jumper’ and ‘A &E’ which indicates that these versions are distributed in BrE speaking countries. Not to say that it couldn’t have been changed by a BrE speaker from an AmE account, but since people tend to just copy and forward, and there seems to be more copies of this around with Anglicisms in it, I suspect this particular email was originated by a BrE speaker.
Still, that doesn’t mean the statistics were from Britain, or were actually accurate at all.