creams and detergents

'Cream' is an uncountable noun according to Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners and Times-Chambers Essential English Dictionary.

Mr. Miclawer,

I wasn’t going to expand this pluralization discussion on “creams” and “wines”.
But it really bothered the heck out of me for two reasons.
1) I really wanted to find out if I was really blowing hot air on this subject
because of my misunderstanding of this topic, and 2) if there is another side of the usage
I am not aware of. 
This is perhaps not relevant to the discussion but to establish my point,  I think it needs
to be said. Mrs. Milton whom I learned English from was an excellent English teacher who
 also had taught for 5 years at the Beijing University, which is a top University in China, by
invitation of the Government.  Many of her students had landed positions working for the
Chinese Government and the U.N. as translators and interpreters. I was very blessed to be
among her students. Most of my English foundation was learned from her.  And I was really
surprised to see your examples pluralizing “cream” and “wine”. By your earlier examples, which I
compared with the information found on the WEB, I must ask this question. Am I to understand
that it’s completely grammatical to say in a restaurant “may I have 2 waters and soups?”.  I know
we hear that all the time but if we are discussing the whether a particular usage is grammatically
correct, running into this  type of scenario is inevitable.  Here are some “supports” you had
asked for which may not may not be validated to your satisfaction. No doubt, you are the
English authority and perhaps possess “superiority” over many frequented this forum and I don’t
mean to sound like challenging  your examples, let alone to waste anymore of your time. 
Nonetheless, as a serious learner, I’d owe the real answers to myself and the learners  if I just
accepted your answers as given.  I may be wrong with my search result and you are correct.
And If so,  here is my “advanced apology”.

 Nouns only countable nouns can be either singular or plural. ... He had some ice cream on
his face. He had an ice cream. mass. countable ...
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/tta/wc/nouns.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

http://ajaja.paradoxinc.org/Basic/Grammar/CountAndNoncount.ht 

Liquids: beer, milk, coffee, blood, cream, juice, honey, gasoline, oil, shampoo, soup, tea, water, wine.

Solids and semi-solids: Bread, butter, cheese, ice, ice cream, lettuce, toast, meat, beef, chicken, fish, ham, lamb, pork, chalk, 
copper, cotton, glass, gold, iron, , soap, tin, toothpaste, wood, wool,

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/countnon.html

A Revision of the RulesThe exceptions require that the rule for pluralizing be revised: count nouns and nouns used 
in a count sense can be pluralized; noncount nouns and nouns used in a noncount sense cannot. 

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080425090142AAom2ui

Answers (4)

If coffee is an uncountable noun, cream certainly is by common sense. Thus the rule applies.

·         Answerer 1

Many nouns can be used as countables or uncountables. It depends on whether you are thinking of a substance or
a single serving or object made of the substance. So:

Beer is fattening (uncountable - the substance)
Don't drink more than three beers a day. (Countable - servings)

I love chocolate (uncountable - the substance)
Get me a box of chocolates (countable - individual pieces)

A vase made of blown glass (uncountable - the substance)
A glass of wine (A single piece / artifact)

Coffee gives me indigestion (the substance - uncountable)
I need at least three coffees to wake up on a morning (countable - individual servings)

• 2 months ago

http://www3.law.cuny.edu/wc/students/multilingual/articles.html

Uncountable nouns often refer to drinks and food, other general substances, or concepts (meat, tea, steel, information, justice):

Examples of Uncountable Nouns in English:

1. Food and Drink: bacon, beef, beer, bread, butter, cabbage, candy, cauliflower, chicken, chocolate, coffee, corn,
   cream, fish, fruit, juice, lettuce, meat, milk, oil, pasta, rice, salt, spinach, sugar, tea, water, whiskey, wine, yogurt.
2. General Substances: air,cement, clay, coal, copper, dirt, dust, foam, gasoline, gold, ice, leather, paper, petroleum,
   plastic, rain, rubber, silver, soap, steel, wood, wool.
3. Abstract nouns: abandonment, access, adultery, advice, alimony, anger, anguish, arson, authentication, beauty, capacity,
   conduct, confidence, courage, deprivation, desperation, discretion, employment, empowerment, evidence, extortion, fortune,
    fun, happiness, health, honesty, housing, information, insurance, intelligence, intent, knowledge, land, love, malice, negligence,
   poverty, privacy, real estate, sadness, satisfaction, strength, truth, wealth.
4. Others: biology, clothing, darkness, equipment, furniture, gossip, homework, jewelry, luggage, machinery, mail, money, music,
   news, poetry, pollution, research, scenery, traffic, transportation, violence, weather, weight, work.

Hi MM,

Aside from the Google results which can be skewed by how the query was made. I think I can agree to a certain extent with respect to the “cream and wine” discussion. Is it because something is deemed as correct, even though folks are using the language improperly but accepted as the standard or the norm, or it's changing to simplify the complexity.  Sure, we hear it and I am too guilty saying it. Can I have two white wines ?  My point yesterday was, if I had to make a reference with someone using alot of creams, I said I would refer to creams as “cream products”. That’s was the context I made my argument in. In fact, I also had a discussion with my wife. She said “coffee cream?”.  I think we had enough “creams and wines” in this discussion and the points are understood. Thanks for you comments.