Re: FBI grammar (was Re: FBI utilizing supermarket club cards in profiling)
There was a time when "data" was purely the plural form of latin "datum". Not anymore. The first example given by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary is, whattayaknow, "the data is plentiful and easily available".
Some of us will always know that "data" is plural, "kudos" and "everyone" are singular, and the plural of "octopus" is "octopuses". But I will not deny you your right to bad grammar!
On 10 Oct 2001, Dr. Evil wrote:
Some of us will always know that "data" is plural, "kudos" and "everyone" are singular, and the plural of "octopus" is "octopuses". But I will not deny you your right to bad grammar!
My point exactly. Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy - mailto:decoy@iki.fi, tel:+358-50-5756111 student/math+cs/helsinki university, http://www.iki.fi/~decoy/front openpgp: 050985C2/025E D175 ABE5 027C 9494 EEB0 E090 8BA9 0509 85C2
"Dr. Evil" wrote:
There was a time when "data" was purely the plural form of latin "datum". Not anymore. The first example given by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary is, whattayaknow, "the data is plentiful and easily available".
Some of us will always know that "data" is plural
In Latin maybe. But English has this nice thing with countable and non-countable forms of nouns. "That data" and "those data" mean subtly different things. Like "Some bread" and "some breads".
In Latin maybe. But English has this nice thing with countable and non-countable forms of nouns. "That data" and "those data" mean subtly different things. Like "Some bread" and "some breads".
You mean, I'm using English right now? All this time I thought I was speaking Latin!
At 01:00 PM 10/11/2001 +0100, Ken Brown wrote:
"Dr. Evil" wrote:
There was a time when "data" was purely the plural form of latin "datum". Not anymore. The first example given by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary is, whattayaknow, "the data is plentiful and easily
available".
Some of us will always know that "data" is plural
In Latin maybe. But English has this nice thing with countable and non-countable forms of nouns. "That data" and "those data" mean subtly different things. Like "Some bread" and "some breads".
More to the point, English grammar also has a thing about evolution, flexibility, and development and acquisition of new words, so the mere fact that "data" was a plural noun when we first stole it, or alternatively a collective noun, doesn't mean that that's what we did with it when we were done adopting it into common usage. Besides, the FBI ought to be bashed for what they *said*, not just the inarticulateness with which you believe they said it. English and American languages do have a lot of fundamental structure, including a variety of competing structures, but they're fundamentally usage-based, not centrally-controlled like French. (And at that, French central control of language was merely a successful chauvinist imposition of Parisian culture and language on the rest of the country, intended to stomp out resistance from Provencal, Breton, and other regional languages and dialects, during the periods when various kings and dictators and emperors were imposing their control on the economics and politics of the region. .)
participants (4)
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Bill Stewart -
Dr. Evil -
Ken Brown -
Sampo Syreeni