funsec mailing list archives
Re: another VX site?
From: der Mouse <mouse () rodents montreal qc ca>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 10:38:37 -0500 (EST)
In the English language, the standard plural of virus is viruses.
[..."viri"...]Have you consulted your favorite Latin dictionary in this matter? [...] PS: Yes, the word "virus" stems from the Latin language, thus it is correct to look it up in a Latin dictionary ;)
That doesn't necessarily follow; for example, the word "perception" also stems from Latin, but you won't find correct English inflections of it by looking in a Latin dictionary. In any case, these periodic tempests in teapots about "viri" vs "virii" vs "viruses" vs etc rather spectacularly miss the point: it's not *supposed* to be the standard English plural. Hackish English has a very long tradition of lifting grammar rules thet either don't exist in English at all or exist only as imports or fossils (cherub->cherubim, ox->oxen, etc) and applying them in linguistically inappropriate ways, as a form of linguistic playfulness. That, applied to the Latinate rule that pluralizes -us as -i (which appears in English in words such as "focus"->"foci"), is where "viri" actually comes from, and as such I cannot find fault with it. /~\ The ASCII der Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse () rodents montreal qc ca / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
Current thread:
- Re: another VX site?, (continued)
- Re: another VX site? Drsolly (Jan 08)
- RE: another VX site? Nick FitzGerald (Jan 07)
- RE: another VX site? Oliver Schneider (Jan 08)
- RE: another VX site? Nick FitzGerald (Jan 08)
- RE: another VX site? Drsolly (Jan 09)
- Re: another VX site? Gadi Evron (Jan 06)
- Re: another VX site? val smith (Jan 06)
- Re: another VX site? Drsolly (Jan 06)
- Re: another VX site? der Mouse (Jan 09)