Re: www.goodlife2000.co.uk -- 6 in 1 diet supplement 4257

Referendum; Referendums??? Referenda :-)

st.h

Yes, indeed, Bill. And one of my pet peeves is the increasing use of "virii" as the plural of "virus" which is not only bad English, but bad Latin to boot.

erratum - errata; corrigendum - corrigenda; datum - data; bacterium - bacteria; medium - media; alumnus - alumni, et cetera...

Though, of course, in these benighted days we increasingly hear data and media used as singular nouns and pluralized using the rules of standard English

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@purdue.edu:

and what would the good forms be? viruses and ____?

AFAIK, nostrum, in the sense of a noun describing a "remedy" is not a Latin word. My own personal preference for the plural of virus would be viruses which I think is the most common form among scientists *and* programmers, both of which I can claim to be. Webster's Dictionary agrees with this. I have only a vague recollection of High School Latin but I think the plural of the Latin word virus meaning venom would be virus. I am certainly willing to stand correction there but I think virus is fourth declension not second declension like annus.

As in 'annus horribilis' - you are a horrible a__shole.......

'virus' is actually 2nd declension and there was no plural.

Interesting discussion at

Bill

Or even worse, hearing someone say, "my computer had a viri." Aaugh! That one is really like fingernails on a blackboard to me. >8^[

Tom S