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

To: Jack Clarke who wrote (1293)	5/17/1998 3:14:00 AM
From: Wizzer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4711

Jack, I agree and am aware that data is a correct plural for datum. I would appreciate it if in the example I have below, you would clarify which would be the proper word to use based on the context. I will put both data/datum and you can edit what is correct and reprint it back to me, so I will know if I have made a mistake somewhere. I will bold what I believe I would use in this circumstance. Perhaps, this is a description of a correspondence I would send to someone to describe in simple terms what I will be doing in a statistical study. Example: I am doing a statistical study on family TV viewing. The study is comprised of a set of numbers that I have compiled from a number of families, which indicates how much TV each family watched per day (in hours). I must process this data/datum and give a statistical representation that will be known as "average family TV usage". Ultimately, a mean calculation of the compiled data/datum will lead me to an average usage for my sample group. All of the data/datum will be used by network programmers to determine their general programming requirements. This is how I would normally write a similar description. I have used data as opposed to datum in all references. Perhaps, I used data in this way because I believe I have qualified the references to it in my writing, although it may be ambiguous. It is possible I have used it improperly now and in the past. I admit that I have rarely, used the word datum in my writing or speaking as an Engineer. I understand why I would write it in this way, and I would most certainly appreciate any comment you or anyone has to offer.

To: Jack Clarke who wrote (1293)	5/17/1998 3:47:00 AM
From: Wizzer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4711

I also just realized that the first paragraph of my post #1292 made absolutely no sense at all and my comment was absolutely erroneous. I was writing late, and had taken some medication for my back that "wacked me out" (possibly a TUI situation-"typing while under the influence"). I am writing late now, but did not have to take the medication today. I will refrain from writing late when my mind is "foggy". My sincerest apologies to you, JBE, and the others. Just wanted to clarify something that helps to explain why I don't use the word datum. I would normally not feel the need to qualify a number to the extent of describing a "stand alone" number (like x% in your example) as datum, nor has the situation arisen where I absolutely had to. I would refer to a "stand alone" number, that is compiled from a set of numbers, as an average, percentage, CPI or whatever it has come to describe.

To: Jack Clarke who wrote (1293)	5/19/1998 1:51:00 AM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4711

Jack, I am even less tolerant than you in the use of medium. Your example of the proper singular and plural use of media and medium obscures the point that the "media" have misused the word medium. I always though of a medium as a passive conductor of something, neither adding nor subtracting anything. For example, "currency is a medium of exchange". In that context, then, it would seem that describing TV or the press as a news medium is an oxymoron because editorial decisions are integral to these news outlets. TTFN, CTC