Maple Leafs Brasil

One of the things that confronts every Leaf fan at some point in his or her existence is the oddity of the team name.  This usually comes in the form of some meathead who offers up a gem like “Hey, shouldn’t it be Leaves? Hur, hur, hur…”

As a result, Leaf fans learn at a young age the rules surrounding the plural form of proper nouns (two Maple Leaf players are Maple Leafs for the same reason that Julia Child and family are the Childs and not the Children – the first place I saw this actually spelled out in detail was in The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker).  This is a form of public service, then.  If grammar is not fully explained in our schools, we can learn it from our local sports teams.

Spelling aside, the question remains as to why this particular name was chosen.  Off the