Sirenomelia, which is also known as mermaid syndrome, is an extremely rare congenital developmental disorder characterized by anomalies of the lower spine and the lower limbs. Affected infants are born with partial or complete fusion of the legs.

“Water” is a concrete noun and a common noun, but it is not a collective noun, because it is not a collection of objects. The opposite of a concrete noun is an abstract noun (e.g., health, happiness, life), and the opposite of a common noun is a proper noun (e.g., England, Sofia, the Constitution).

Men is not a collective noun. It is an irregular plural. You would say “The men haven’t won.” Examples of collective nouns are herd, class, or platoon.

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Mermaids usually are considered lucky, but not universally. In Trinidad and Tobago, sea-dwelling mer-men “were known to grant a wish, transform mediocrity into genius and confer wealth and power.” Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky omens, both foretelling disaster and provoking it.

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Patronage. Water, the sea, mermaids, markets, divination, healing, luck, money, music. Mami Wata (Mammy Water) is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female, but are sometimes male.

The Neck (English) or the Nix/Nixe/Nyx (German) are shapeshifting water spirits who usually appear in human form. The Undine or Ondine is a female water elemental (first appearing the alchemical works of Paracelsus). Jenny Greenteeth in the folklore of Lancashire. Peg Powler said to inhabit the River Tees in Yorkshire.

But West Africa is not the only place where the idea of a mermaid existed. In Mali, the Dogon people have an origin story involving fish creatures called nommos. The sky god Amma is responsible for creating these half-fish half-people as the first living creatures on earth.

Today, the words “siren” and “mermaid” are often used interchangeably. But the truth is, the ancient Greek myth of a siren was nothing like that. The sirens have been linked to various locations, both real and imaginary, in and around Italy and Greece.