Re: Klez.H worm preserved in Debian BTS
Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> Craig Dickson <crdic@pacbell.net> writes:
>
> > Matthew Garrett wrote:
> >
> > > I'm really sorry about this, and I don't normally say anything about
> > > spelling. But speaking as a biologist, can I point out that it's
> > > "Viruses"? Oddly, it's the computing community that has the most trouble
> > > with this. http://language.perl.com/misc/virus.html has more on this.
> >
> > Why "oddly"? I wouldn't expect computer people to be as familiar with
> > Latin as biologists, in general.
>
> "viruses" isn't the Latin plural, it's the English plural.
I think you missed my point. Most computer people wouldn't have the
slightest idea what the Latin plural of anything is, yet we seem to have
an annoying fixation on trying to use Latin or other unusual forms of
words based on incorrect inferences. Hence "Unices", "Vaxen", "virii",
etc. (There is a certain amount of intentional humor in this, of
course.) So it doesn't strike me as odd at all that we would tend to
have more trouble than most people in this area. A biologist like Mr.
Garrett, on the other hand, has had enough exposure to Latin (via
taxonomy and other technical nomenclature) to have a better chance of
getting a plural right.
Craig
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