Back when I worked as a translator, I became slightly obsessed with uncountable nouns in English.
When translated Japanese nouns into English, I had to give the English a singular or plural form based on the context.
Example:
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| ้็ญใ(enpitsu) | pencil or pencils |
I think that the tiny but repeated mental effort of having to choose between the singular or plural changed me over time and gave me this preference.
It wasn't just at work. When I read something in my off time, words like "gravel" and "roughage" would jump off the page whenever I saw it in a newspaper or book. Reading them was slightly easier on my brain, and I preferred to use such nouns in my everyday speech whenever I could.
I recall the noun "moose" was something I pondered occasionally because even though it was countable, its plural form does not change from the singular.
I still notice these nouns, but they don't preoccupy me as much as before.