Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

} I've been looking at nouns and their characteristics--singular/plural,
} count/non-count and concrete/absolute. I thought that absolutes
} couldn't be counted, but a friend of mine pointed out that we can
} say/write "He had several loves in his youth." Justice, honesty, faith,
} etc. can't be counted. Is "loves" non-standard English?

Nope.  Nor is "justices" (on the Supreme court) or "honesties" (of
different schools of accounting) or "faiths" (of churchgoers), autc.

You just have to stretch a little.

I don't think so.  A great many nouns have different meanings and,
depending on the meaning, can function as either count nouns or mass
nouns.  "Love" is an example: a mass noun as an emotion, a count noun
as a beloved person or a kind of love (e.g., C. S. Lewis's title /The
Four Loves/).

Two of your examples have alternate meanings with the same property:
"the nine justices of the supreme court" and "people of many faiths".
I can't think of a use for "honesties", though--not even *"There were
several honesties next to the love-lies-bleedings."

No, it's standard English. It means people or things you love.