Once upon a time, there was a neuter singular Greek noun, [“kudos”:http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?lang=greek&lookup=ku%3Ddos&bytepos=0&wordcount=2&embed=2] meaning glory, or fame in war.
About ten years ago, I started noticing it used as an American marketing term, meaning, of a gadget, useful. _Fly Fisherman_ magazine, for example, used it in their annual awards. At this point, it changed into a plural noun, as if the unit quantity of respect were one kudo.
This afternoon, I noticed the ultimate degeneration: the president of some Linux company “writing”:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/18/desktop_linux_letters/ to the Register, spelling it _kudo’s._
I only hope the Kudo comes and gets him in the night, like the “wendigo”:http://www.prairieghosts.com/wendigo.html (plural, wheredewent).