It's odd that this sort of issue is only an issue for non-linguists. The idea that a word borrowed from an ancient Mediterranean language should be declined in English (or is that conjugated) as in the original, would be absurd to most linguists. So who is it NOT absurd to? Highschool English teachers? Statistics teachers who are channeling THEIR highschool English teachers?
I think the reason that it is still a problem relates to its having no plural. Flock refers to a bunch of sheep, but you can also have flocks. Data refers to a bunch of numbers, but we can't speak of different bunches of numbers as "datas". What rings my bell still is the very frequent use of plural pronouns to make gender-neutral references. "S/he" is often even uglier, but "they" gives up one of the distinctions that helps to make sentences intelligible. "The Police did not know who the robber was, but they found nothing of value when they entered the house." Years ago, in the first issue of Ms Mag, Gloria Steinem suggested that we use the neologism "tey ... ter" as singular gender-neutral nominative and possessive pronouns, as in "Each to ter own taste." I sort of liked it, but it never caught on... even in Ms Mag. Nick -----Original Message----- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Greg Sonnenfeld Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 1:33 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] datum vs. data Data is now accepted as a mass noun by most computing organizations including those in IEEE. I remember having a long debate about this at Ames in regards to a publication. **************************** Greg Sonnenfeld "Junior programmers create simple solutions to simple problems. Senior programmers create complex solutions to complex problems. Great programmers find simple solutions to complex problems. The code written by topnotch programmers may appear obvious, once it is finished, but it is vastly more difficult to create." On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 11:29 AM, glen e. p. ropella <g...@tempusdictum.com> wrote: > > I'm looking for a little psychological insight, here. Why do I so > often screw up the subject verb agreement with the word "data"? I > know data is plural... but "datum" is so rare ... and a bit > pretentious ... and, unless you get down to an atomic "bit", any "datum" is probably "data" > if you crack it open and look inside anyway. But these are excuses. > Are my excuses preventing me from using English properly? > > -- > glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://tempusdictum.com > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe > at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at > http://www.friam.org > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
