Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ncsu.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!ncsu!mauney From: mauney@ncsu.UUCP (Jon Mauney) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: The singular form of data Message-ID: <2716@ncsu.UUCP> Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 16:04:29 EST Article-I.D.: ncsu.2716 Posted: Mon Nov 5 16:04:29 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 7-Nov-84 07:40:14 EST References: <550@rayssd.UUCP> Organization: N.C. State University, Raleigh Lines: 19 > Why do people insist on using "datum" even though it sounds terrible? I > know what the dictionaries and William Safire say, it's just that it doesn't > "feel" right. We don't have a plural form of hair, and nobody wants to > invent a latinized form, yet to say "My hair is ..." is technically wrong. There are singular and plurals, and then there are collectives. I doubt you would say "What a dirty restaurant -- I found three hair in my soup." As far as I'm concerned, using 'data' to refer to a single fact sounds terrible. A datum is a single piece of data and data is a collection of datums. There is a useful distinction to be made between "That datum is inaccurate" and "that data is inaccurate". To say "Those data are inaccurate" is also ok, but we Americans tend to consider collectives as singular. -- _Doctor_ Jon Mauney, mcnc!ncsu!mauney \__Mu__/ North Carolina State University