Uh, really awkward. I've been posting so little that i've actually forgotten what the standard post structure is like, and am now forced to steal despicably from my other posts. I'm a dirty thieving bastard :(

But, i digress.

As of late, I've been messing around with merb for a personal project of mine, as old men do in the privacy of their own homes. Being the original fellow that we all know i am, my project has nothing to do with lolcats. Wanting to enforce that as thoroughly as possible, i decided to send a clear message to everybody, and screw up the inflector for 'lolcat'.

Long version ( filled with passion and romance )

It seemed like a good idea at the time, although i must admit, alcohol was involved.

Lawfully, i read the init.rb file, and found the code i was craving:

# Here we define erratum/errata exception case:
#
# Language::English::Inflector.word "erratum", "errata"

"If it works for a fancy word like that, it's sure to work for 'lolcat' !", i thought, conspiring to the demise of humorous felines. Alas, having uncommented that piece of code, i was greeted by my old friend, the shit storm. Do say hello

/Users/zmack/Projects/omgpron/config/init.rb:133: uninitialized constant Language::English::Inflector (NameError)
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:304:in `load'
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:304:in `load_initfile'
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:253:in `run'
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/lib/merb-core/bootloader.rb:65:in `run'
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/lib/merb-core/server.rb:51:in `start'
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/lib/merb-core.rb:87:in `start'
        from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-0.9.4/bin/merb:12
        from /usr/bin/merb:19:in `load'
        from /usr/bin/merb:19

Dug around a bit, turns out the class was Language::English::Inflect. No worries, we just change it to that and it does the trick. Well, not really.

>> "locat".pluralize # omg omg ?
=> "locats" # gnoes :(

Elegantly, i break out the hammer, and mightily unleash it upon the unsuspecting merb

require 'ruby2ruby' # => true
"lolcat".method(:plural).to_ruby # => "def plural\n  English::Inflect.plural(self)\nend"

What is this treachery ? I was strictly instructed to use Language::English::Inflect and now this doppelgänger comes to haunt me ?

The trouble is, apparently, that Datamapper's extlib, being the eager little beaver that it is, also implements a pluralize method, and uses the english gem with no namespacing.

Using English::Inflect in init.rb results in more fail, as Datamapper apparently isn't loaded by that time. The thing that came to my mind by this point was to just stick the inflector rule in a model. If it's loading a model, Datamapper is bound to be loaded, wouldn't really make sense to be in the model without Datamapper, so our Inflector is bound to be in reach down there.

And now, after a hard day's work, it is finally time to admire the fruits of our labor

"lolcat".pluralize # => "lolyourmum"

Awesome !

Short version

If you're using merb and want to add a custom inflector, the init.rb comments are bunk, and what you have to use is

Language::English::Inflect.word "erratum", "errata"

Moreover, if you're also using Datamapper, the method on String gets monkeypatched, so you need to patch DM's inflector as well, by sticking the following in one of your models ( well, _near_ them anyway )

English::Inflect.word "erratum", "errata"

class SomeModelOmg