News anchors in Nevada and California almost always say "the Sierra" when they refer to the Sierra Nevada Mountains because many people get all exercised and annoyed if you say "the Sierras". They insist that it is improper grammar because it is one mountain range. I say that it is totally proper to say "the Sierras" because the "Sierra Nevada Mountains" is plural; it isn't just one mountain. If you speak of the Wilson family, you're speaking of all the family members and you don't say "the Wilson", you say "the Wilsons". It's exactly the same thing. Am I right or wrong?
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Comments
Nevertheless, as a resident of California, I hear sierras quite often. I don't find that anyone but the purists pay much attention to the original meaning of sierra in Spanish.
CJ
Sierra or Sierras?
The Spanish word sierra means "range of mountains," and is usually found in combination with other
words, such as Sierra Blanca (White Range), Sierra Madre (Mother Range, or Central Range), and
Nevada (Snowy Range). Occasionally las sierras is used to designate a group of mountain ranges or
ridges. In the Spanish narratives of exploration una sierra nevada is frequently found written without
capital initials, referring simply to a snow-covered range of mountains. It was in this that our own Sierra
Nevada was first designated. Early in the nineteenth century it was sometimes called the California Range by
American explorers, but gradually the Spanish phrase prevailed, and after a while it became a specific name and
took its place on all maps. The Sierra Nevada is distinctly a unit, both geographically and topographically, and
is well described as "una sierra nevada." Strictly speaking, therefore, we should never say "Sierras," or "High
Sierras," or "Sierra Nevadas" in referring to it. Nevertheless, these forms are so frequently found in the very
best works of literature and science that it would perhaps be pedantic to deny their admissibility. It becomes,
therefore, a matter of preference, and for our part we rather like to keep in mind the unity of our great range by
calling it simply "The Sierra" or "The Sierra Nevada."
Having thus promised not to look askance at "Sierras," we may perhaps be spared the pain of hearing
"Sierra Nevada Mountains." Surely one does not say "Loch Katrine Lake," "Rio Grande River," or "Saint San
Francisco.”
[This note by Francis Farquhar, the authority on Sierra place names, first appeared in the Bulletin (Sierra
Club) in 1928. Largely owing to his editorial effort, the name "Sierras" is even less admissible now than it was
then. Some speakers and writers have gone farther than Farquhar would wish: they drop the terminal s all
right, but, forgetting the unity of the range, they consider the name to be plural, e.g., "The Sierra are ...."
The name "Sierras" is still stuck to by a few recalcitrants who probably concluded that logic has nothing to
do with the acceptance place names, and who could cite, in accepted nomenclature, many redundancies such as
Little Chico Creek (Little Little Creek).
We cannot argue logically with persons who deprecate logic; nevertheless, we can call them names. So we
aver that the man who will say "Sierras" will also say "Frisco," and is probably on a par with the printer who
would letter-space lower case type. Such a printer, said Goudy, would steal sheep.]
Excerpt from the 1947 Sierra Club Bulletin. ed. David Brower
“The name Sierra is already a plural. To add an s is a linguistic, Californian, and mountaineering sin.”
p. 83, Ansel Adams, An Autobiography
If, as you say, it means A mountain range, it's singular.
Is A team of horses plural?
From a physiographical point of view, isn't there a difference between a mountain range and a range of mountains?
The Applachian Trail runs along the backs of a "chain" of mountains (The Appalachians).
My Spanish is horrible, but somewhere I got the idea that "sierra" referred to the sawtooth formation. That is, the individual mountains are side-by-side, rather than "in line."
(My geography is even worse than my Spanish.)
A pizza may be made up of many slices yet it is still one pizza. If you refer to the pizza or mountain range as a whole then it is singular. If you refer to the individual components, such as the slices that make up the pizza or the mountains that make up the range, then you are using a plural.
You don't refer to a single pizza as "the pizzas" just because the single pizza consists of multiple slices. You don't refer to the Sierra as "the Sierras" just because the single range consists of multiple mountains. You can say "the slices of the pizza" or "the mountains of the Sierra."
The Sierra is absolutley correct in reference to the Sierra Nevada, and "the Sierras" is absolutely incorrect.
Best regards.
But calling them "the Sierra" would be like calling the Smoky Mountains "the Mountains," instead of "the Smokies." Let's face it: it's just a nickname.
I wonder what we're really supposed to do with the Himalayan Range? Surely they're entitled to equal consideration.
Are the Alps really the Alp Mountains? Do the French and the Germans and the Italians all agree?
You would not say the Rocky. No, it’s the Rockies because it is more than one mountain range.
The Sierra Nevada is only one range, thus it is the Sierra.