Re: [Waaaaaay OT] Grammer
On Wed, Oct 22, 2003 at 03:55:19PM +0200, Nicos Gollan wrote:
> It's "grammar".
>
> On Wednesday 22 October 2003 15:45, Roberto Sanchez wrote:
> > Not trying to start a flame-fest here, but the correct plural form of
> > virus is viruses.
>
> Last thing I heard was that the original word had no plural at all, so as I
> see it we're all free to write what we want. "Little dead protein strands in
> protective protein hulls" is my favourite, but "valid reasons to shoot the
> a**holes who wrote 'em" is a close second. :-)
>
Languages evolve by consensus. I saw a great proggie on TLC once about
the guys who decide what is and isn't a word. There are some
spectacular flamefests in the professional societies about it.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=virii
"No entry found for virii."
My personal pet peeve is:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=octopi
oc·to·pus ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kt-ps)
n. pl. oc·to·pus·es or oc·to·pi (-p)
Octopus is greek. The correct plural is octopuses damn it!
:-)
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