From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Wed, 1 Aug 2001 04:57:00 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Wed, 1 Aug 2001 04:56:51 -0400 Received: from leeor.math.technion.ac.il ([132.68.115.2]:40678 "EHLO leeor.math.technion.ac.il") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Wed, 1 Aug 2001 04:56:42 -0400 Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 11:56:37 +0300 From: "Nadav Har'El" To: Riley Williams Cc: Guest section DW , Linux Kernel Subject: Re: [OT] Virii (sic) Message-ID: <20010801115637.C22440@leeor.math.technion.ac.il> In-Reply-To: <20010801015116.B11060@win.tue.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2i In-Reply-To: ; from rhw@MemAlpha.CX on Wed, Aug 01, 2001 at 07:58:51AM +0100 Hebrew-Date: 12 Av 5761 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Aug 01, 2001, Riley Williams wrote about "Re: [OT] Virii (sic)": > > [The singular is virus. The plural in English is viruses. In > > Latin there is no plural - it is even debatable whether virus is > > a noun in Latin - in any case it is indeclinable.] What I don't understand is why people use the form virii, with a double I! Just like the plural of abacus is abaci, the plural of cactus is cacti (check the dictionary if you don't believe me), shouldn't the plural of virus be viri, with one I at the end (of course, "viruses" is also currently accepted as a plural, and even preferred by some people). I think people get confused by the fact that the plural of radius is radii. That extra "I" comes from the i in radius - it shouldn't appear in the plural of "virus"! The plural of the different word "virius" should have been virii. > PS: Plural of bacteria is bacterium, from the same source. Note that bacteria is already plural - bacterium is the singular. There's a more computer relevant fact: "data" is a plural noun, whose singular is "datum". Similarly, "media" is plural, whose singular is "medium". So constructions like "datas" or "medias" are wrong, although they are becoming more and more accepted... Does anybody still use the form formulae as a plural of formula? I do, but I think I belong to a dying breed :) [Oops, I don't think this discussion is very relevant to Linux kernels any more...] -- Nadav Har'El | Wednesday, Aug 1 2001, 12 Av 5761 nyh@math.technion.ac.il |----------------------------------------- Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |A city is a large community where people http://nadav.harel.org.il |are lonesome together.