skies

The blog on linguistic pet hates produced an outburst from one reader who is vehemently opposed to the use of the plural skies. ‘I struggle to find a convincing reason why the word should exist.  Last I checked we only had one sky! So why the word skies?

It is always dangerous to attempt to find an explanation for an idiomatic use but here goes.

I look up at the sky and see it arching over me. But you might be in another part of the world and not seeing the same sky that I am seeing.  Mine might be dark with rain and yours might be sunny. And then there are the others who are looking at their patch of sky which is different again.  To pluralise sky gives the idea that you are counting up everyone’s bit of sky and so creating a sense of a much bigger terrain that would be conveyed by the singular.

The OED says that this use is mostly poetic and literary.  The beauty of the earth, the sea and the skies.  Unless of course you are a meteorologist talking about the weather in which case you can talk about  cloudy skies, sunny skies, overcast skies without anyone accusing you of dishing out poetry.   The only suggestion that I can make there is that skies has a generalising effect.  I’m not talking to you about your particular sky, I’m talking to everyone about their skies.

So I would suggest to you, dear reader, that we have more things to worry about than the use of the plural skies.  It is a form that is perfectly possible in English so why not use it to good effect?