Tinker Toys and K'Nex are stupid.

[DanaC]

Yep: lego refers to the whole thing. Lego is made up of individual bricks.

'Maths', meanwhile is the shortened version of 'mathematics'. If you had to shorten the word 'qualification' you'd shorten it to 'qual'. If you had to shorten the word 'qualifications', you'd shorten it to 'quals'

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by DanaC

If you had to shorten the word 'qualification' you'd shorten it to 'qual'. If you had to shorten the word 'qualifications', you'd shorten it to 'quals'

Which is US military parlance all the way, though the usual usage of "qual" is not a noun but a verb. You hear phrases like "get qual'ed on that (technical skill, equipment operation)" or "I'm not qual'ed on that," which like anything else sometimes sees a metaphorical use.