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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andy Dennie who wrote (68)	1/2/1998 10:53:00 AM
From: Jack Clarke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4710

Hi Andy: Thanks for the pet peeves (du jour). I have so many of my own I don't know where to start, so I'll comment on yours: Those plurals are a problem, particularly the Latin and Greek ones. My biggest peeve is the use of data and media as singular nouns. Everytime I hear "this data" or "the media is biased", I cringe. I guess this happens because nobody studies Latin or Greek anymore, and also because the singular forms datum, medium are seldom used. Same for bacterium/a. Criteria is a similar situation from the Greek, and we seldom see its correct singular form criterion. These errors are so universal, especially among computer people, that I think we are waging a losing battle. Also, many Latin and Greek plurals have been wholly anglicized, or as Fowler says "naturalized". I submit that stadium is one of these, even though you disagree. Saying stadia would be considered stuffy in my view. As I keep repeating, the language is changing, whether we like it or not. Some of these Latin/Greek plurals have been naturalized; others have not. We still say phenomena to pluralize phenomenon, but we say albums, asylums, museums, premiums, etc. in their "naturalized" forms. The athletes and hairdresser, I think, are not referring to the actual time, but to the more abstract "goal" when they want to improve the situation. Would a golfer fall into the same trap? (I didn't intend the pun but will let it stand.) I think my next peeve post will involve lie,lay. That's always a fun one. Jack

To: Andy Dennie who wrote (68)	1/2/1998 11:47:00 AM
From: Janice Shell	Respond to of 4710

More: "data" as a singular noun, as in "this data". Same goes for "phenomenon/a". And why is it so many people labor under the misapprehension that the past tense of "forecast" is "forecasted"? AND--one day I'm gonna write 'em about this--why do the people at Briefing.com think that "willful" means "willing"? (As in "tech stocks are a willful participant in today's rally".) And should we really spell it that way, as all Americans now seem to do, or is "wilful" more correct?