In Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and British/Australian/NZ English, LEGO is an uncountable noun like "rice" or "sand". The Danish LEGO company used to advocate this usage by printing the following on their sets:
"Dear Parents and Children
LEGO® is a brand name that is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely appreciate your help in keeping it special by referring to our bricks as "LEGO Bricks or Toys" and not just "LEGOS". By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand that stands for quality the world over." [1]
So the singular form is clearly the manufacturer's intention, but "Legos" is widely used in North America and is just one of those words that grates if you haven't grown up with it. For whatever reason I have the same reaction when the Poms say "kit" instead of "equipment".
> For whatever reason I have the same reaction when the Poms say "kit" instead of "equipment"
This is interesting, and one I’ve never noticed.
Would you say “the drum equipment has been set up” vs “the drum kit has been set up”? Or more in the sense “the kitchen has been equipped” vs “the kitchen has been kitted out”?
Probably the latter in both cases. I'd still use the word kit to denote something that comes disassembled that you need to put together. It's more like when someone describes their new phone as a "nice bit of kit". Ugh!
The word LEGO wouldn't exist if not for the company. The wikipedia article actually doesn't say the full story about how the name came to be aka "leg godt (play well)" => LEGO came from a "naming competition" that the founder made and which he ended up winning.
The company would like that the word "Legos" isn't used as it implies that "Legos" are plastic interconnecting bricks of any manufacturer, including the ones that just blatantly copy even the newest LEGO sets.
"Dear Parents and Children
LEGO® is a brand name that is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely appreciate your help in keeping it special by referring to our bricks as "LEGO Bricks or Toys" and not just "LEGOS". By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand that stands for quality the world over." [1]
So the singular form is clearly the manufacturer's intention, but "Legos" is widely used in North America and is just one of those words that grates if you haven't grown up with it. For whatever reason I have the same reaction when the Poms say "kit" instead of "equipment".
[1] https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10839/what-is-th...