How can you singularize commonly pluralized words?

Actually, the proper singular noun for one pair of pants is "pant." Anyone who works in the clothing business has heard that term, for sure. Doesn't mean heavy breathing!

Grits are bits of ground dried corn that are cooked until they are soft and yummy. It is a slang term applied to the remnants of the corn kernals after they are dried and ground (therfore always plural).

The term "hots" is also slang. Probably originating from the term "hot to trot," meaning horny. Compounded slang terms don't follow convention.

Any others? This is fun!

I guess a scissor you would have to cut with it like a knife... but then, wouldn't it just be easier to use a knife? I've heard pant... I've always found it interesting that if you are talking about your whole head you refer to hair, but if you are talking about a few strands it's hairs... And also, while we're on the subject of semantics... I've been underwhelmed and overwhelmed.. but is there such a thing as just being whelmed? I use it anyway, I get odd looks when I say, well that was... whelming. I get those kind of looks a lot though.

Some are not meant to be in the singular form. Why do we park on a drive way and drive on a parkway. Why are postmen never gruntled always disgruntled? Its one of English’s great mysteries that we are never meant to know. Like plural fish is not fishes, sheeps, octopuses, mooses. We may never know.

im soo confused

English does have a few "odd" words that don't follow the "rules".

A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb: example - The news is bad.

And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and always use a plural verb:
Example - Her scissors were stolen.

The above was taken from the following site http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/plurals.htm

ha ha ha! you can't! that's a funny question and clever. that's English for you! :)

Forget about the inevitable apostrophe-s......

Um,
pants = pant such as one pant leg, or one pant instead of one pair of pants.
Grits = grit it would be one singular grit not a spoonful of grits. Grits are tiny little bits of corn, so only one grit would be called a grit.
hots = hot such as I'm hot for you, instead of having the hots for you.
Scissors = scissor I have heard this said before. a scissor is just one blade of the pair.

adding or subtracting a letter from a word changes the entire meaning of the word. Making a work singular or plural by adding 's' for example.
This is not exclusively English though. Other languages have their own way of making words plural or singular, but since I have not studied any other languages since high school, I do not have any good examples of this.

Heehee. Nouns like pants, scissors and grits are plural nouns for singular objects made up of two or more parts, -a garment, a tool, a serving. Then there are the collective nouns, where a singular noun describes a lot of things - herd of horses, flock of birds, bouquet of flowers.