The Fat Controller returned my thesis, suggesting some changes and correcting some errors. One of my frequent “errors” was using the phrase these data show instead of the data shows.
My reply:
| Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, FC. I will work on this over the weekend.
| In the meantime, I beg to differ on a small point of grammar:
| That the word data is the plural of the singular datum - from the Latin meaning a given (thing).
| While the use of data as the singular form has become acceptable in general usage, in particular in US English, it is, nevertheless, incorrect and in my opinion, should never be used in scientific or academic texts.
| This is not to be confused with the incorrect usage of referenda as the plural of referendum. Referendum, as it is from the Latin meaning that which must be referred, is by its definition, a gerundive and therefore has no plural in Latin. Hence the correct English plural is, by default, referendums.
| Similar debates have been had for centuries as to whether the word trousers is singular or plural. No doubt this is fuelled by it’s being commonly prefixed by a pair of or two pairs of. It is my assertion that the word trousers is at once both singular and plural - singular at the top and plural at the bottom.
| Until such time as all nations have held referendums on trousers, can we agree to differ on data?
| Le gach deá-mhéin
| - Primal
His reply:
| You’re correct, Primal. I don’t know what I was thinking there.
| Lgd
| - Fat Controller
| ps. Permission to use the “trouser” one down the pub?
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I’m a bit of a grammar nerd myself and totally agree with you on data as plural. It reflects quite badly on your fat controller though…
Best be careful there Primal. The Fat Controller will think you are after his job! ……aha, perhaps you are.
Goodness, sorry about that Primal. Seems I’m repeating myself. It’s this Firefox hon - it’s far too quick for me - I can’t seem to keep up!
Red - Not really. He’s great - I couldn’t ask for better. We all have little errors we make over and over again even though we know we’re wrong. Mine is mixing up Internet and internet.
White girl - No f*ing way! You’ll never get me working in academia!
Shall I up the time-out on edits to 10 mins?
Can one work in academia?
And English grammar being so inconsistent, I’m surprised I don’t hear more complaints about it being forced down people’s throats…
mar dheá!
Some gentle amusement on the subject:
http://www.mtannoyances.com/?cat=14
Hee, good one.
10 mins is sooooo much better than 3 I find, and thanks for asking.
Oooooh, the FC sounds like such a pooper. I am re-writing one of my course essays that was failed before Christmas, so I am girding my loins to re-submit it.
I am not a grammar nerd, but can still spot the FC’s obvious error of judgement.
The whole process is one gigantic pain the ass, Primal. There’s more to come.
Where do you stand on compasses?
One cannot compass all the issues with english in one post.
Jaysus you should hang out with my wife. She actually writes for a living, and despairs at my grammar and syntax. She hates me using the phrase, “pair of pants”. For example. me saying, “I’ll get my pair of pants from the wardrobe”, followed by some smart ass comment from her, such as, “Why are you going to wear both of them at once. Are you cold?” I will defo be borrowing your argument on this one!
Aonghus - Ha ha! X 2. Or maybe X 3.
Annie - I agree. But then I would, wouldn’t I?
White girl - 10 mins it is then.
Hulla - Ah would ye stop it! He’s grand. See comment #4 above.
Medbh - There’s more? No one told me that!
Sam - Right in the centre, so I can see all points. Then, again, I don’t.
Aonghus - There have been books written about it. I think they’re called dictionaries.
John - Smart ass is beautifully appropriate.
you over educated kildare cont, Data was the robot in Star trek.
Young Knudsen - Now look what you’ve gone and done! Mentioning Star Trek like that! I’ll be all hot and bothered the whole day thinking about Jolene Blalock.
The Dutch are always giving out that trousers is plural in English. They also have a problem with scissors and glasses. They don’t believe in referendums though, sadly.
The Dutch are always giving out.
Oh, but they do. They believe in them so much that the government there is afraid to hold another one….they don’t want to be made a spectacle of when the people take a scissors to the reformed reformed treaty. Dutch reformed and all that.
Would that split cause the trousers of Europe?
I’m just wondering what the reaction to trousers was down at the pub.
First time here, I like it. Grandad has certainly led me astray. Too bad I didn’t get led astray sooner. This definitely looks like a right candidate for the “Blogs na hÉireann” section of my sidebar, unless of course you have an objection.
Aonghus - It seems the Dutch government are forcing the people to zip up.
Kirk - Would that not be “Blaganna na …”? Or is the jury still out on that one too?
Dunno about the Jury, but the Committee appears to sanction Blaganna
And our lot, failing to zip us up, will have use repeating ourselves until we give the right answer. Lisbon, Lisbon, so good we voted twice?
Considering that there probably wasn’t any sort of ancient Gaelige term for what we do, Blaganna it is then and shall be changed thusly. Besides, it flows much better and thanks much for the correction. I’ll bet I’m the only US blogger that has section like that in his sidebar and probably one of the only ones who understands what it means. God, I love that!
I’d say the term was coined soon after the first Irish speaker started blogging.
As for “ancient” gaeilge, since blogging is talking really, have a look here:
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/focloiri/daoine/lorg.php and search for “talker”
I doubt it. There are at least 4 Irish language bloggers I know of in the US.
Last years “Best use of the Irish language Blog Award” was won by a NY based blog:
http://hilaryny.blogspot.com
Well, I won’t pretend to know the Irish language at all. It’s just my tribute to a bunch of fine, smart witted bloggers who also strive to keep one of the ancient languages alive and kicking. Your own opinion of your fellow Irish bloggers notwithstanding.
Myself included. And I should have put tags on the comment.
I’m certainly a reathalaí and descend occasionally to being a síofróir or a siollaire, and alas, also a gaotaire
Blogging allows me to do all that in Irish; live conversations, even in Dublin, Ireland, are harder to arrange…
Hmm. I had written “I should have put <jest funnin’< tags on the comment”, but the gremlins seem to have swallowed it.
I edited it after the fact; maybe using & lt ; and & gt ; wasn’t such a good idea?
Update: It wasn’t, because they are converted when you edit, and then vanish.
Also some of the links above with accents in them are broken.
But you get the idea?
(Don’t suppose you could work some magic, Primal?)
Aonghus,
That’s just Wordpress acting up. I myself should have slapped a “smilie” at the and of my comment as well. Something like
or 
or 
Now if those didn’t show up then the option to convert needs to be checked in the options.
By the way, reathalaí and síofróir came up empty with the dictionary putting a ? within the letters of each word. Being the clever kind of guy that I am I pasted the word in the box myself and that worked fine. Hmmm, sounds like me.
At first glance, lads, I think the issue was with Aonghus using four links in the same comment. I have Akismet set to send comments with any more than three to spam and, in the case of known commenters, to mediation. Any comments sent to either spam or moderation are “cleaned” of potentially malicious tags. So when I take them out of there, parts may be missing.
I will look into it deeper tomorrow, but I think that’s it.
I think there was an overlap.
The > & 7lt; got lost when I edited the comment.
The links got broken because the accented characters got modified, probably at the same time.
ASCII still has us in its icy grip…
Oh ok. I see now, Aonghus. Anyway, the links are fixed now. They are working fine.