Oolite Bulletins

So says Disney! Yuck!

El Viejo wrote:

So says Disney! Yuck!

Well, at least they didn't say it's part of an international Zionist conspiracy ... that probably counts as progress, for Disney. Remember, kids: open source gives you acne! Only trust what you have purchased (or, better still, rented) from global megacorporations. If it's not been hand-stitched by a child labourer, it's Not Cool.

Dear mother of - Disney, you are written by idiots. Sorry about your bad luck.

I heard that MS plan to charge users for virii.. ?

Whats a virii? Do you mean viruses?

*snickers*

What's the Plural of `Virus'?

Tricky wrote:

*snickers*

What's the Plural of `Virus'?

Cmdr James wrote:

Whats a virii? Do you mean viruses?

A term forced into being due to Windows.

Virii is the plural of virus James. From memory it also covers the components of which a virus is made.

Greyth wrote:

Virii is the plural of virus James. From memory it also covers the components of which a virus is made.

Read the article Tricky linked to.

'Virii' does not exist as a word, and even if it would exist as a word, it could never be the plural of 'virus'. It could only be the plural of 'virius', and that does not exist as a word either.

I did research into this subject last year when I was creating a plural to singular convertor.

English is a funny language because we take examples from many languages and mash it up into a big stew that not only confuses non-english speakers but many english speakers too.

Octopus, Polypus and Platypus are also good flame-bait.

Octopus: This stems from the the Greek word oktapous (eight-footed). The traditional plural forms are octopuses from English grammar and octopodes from the Greek.

Some people do use octopi which is incorrect as that stems from the Latin form and as we have seen, octopus is not Latin.

Polypus: Original Latin word for octopus is polypus from the Greek polypous (many-footed); again, usually the inappropriate plural polypi is used instead of the correct form of polypodes.

Platypus: Again this is a Greek word not Latin. Most commonly used plural used by scientists and laypersons is platypuses. Biologists use platypus (like sheep and fish). The Greek form is platypodes.

Again, some people do use platypi which is incorrect as that stems from the Latin form and as we have seen, platypus is not Latin.

The above 3 are just examples of incorrect pluralization of Greek words.

Much that is Latin stems from Greece. During the classical era many a Roman treatise was written in Greek especially those intended for a multi cultural consumption where Latin was considered to be vulgar. I do not know if the word virus is a Latin or Greek word but I estimate it is Latin as the man who taught me biology and also taught us to use the term virii had a classical education.

Greyth wrote:

the man who taught me biology and also taught us to use the term virii had a classical education.

But not a very good one. (Read Tricky’s link. There’s actual information there, with references. There’s a reasonable argument that “virii” is legitimate computer jargon, but there’s no reasonable argument that it’s motivated by Latin.)

But not a very good one

I did scan the link, although I forgot to thank Tricky for his in depth research. Cheers Tricky. Don't get me wrong, my tutor did not state that the root was Latin, simply that the plural of virus is virii. He was, I thought, a most gracious man and wise beyond my ken. That it might be Latin was my assumption/estimation. If truly it is a legitimate term with respect to IT that might actually have something to do with me as I've been toting it around for thirty years and have impacted IT in several locations, but it's probably a bit late to apologise now!

Greyth wrote:

But not a very good one

I did scan the link, although I forgot to thank Tricky for his in depth research. Cheers Tricky.

S'ok.

Greyth wrote:

Don't get me wrong, my tutor did not state that the root was Latin, simply that the plural of virus is virii. He was, I thought, a most gracious man and wise beyond my ken.

And still wise and gracious.

Greyth wrote:

That it might be Latin was my assumption/estimation. If truly it is a legitimate term with respect to IT that might actually have something to do with me as I've been toting it around for thirty years and have impacted IT in several locations, but it's probably a bit late to apologise now!

Virii is one of those weird words I never took to. It just didn't look IT'y for me. I actually thought at the time it was a biological term that should not be attributed to IT. As such I always used viruses.

As an aside, Vaxen, Boxen and Elvii are joke Latin pluralizations. (Vax, Box and Elvis)

Conclusion: Can we all just agree that Disney has got it wrong.

(Sort of getting the thread back on the rails)

From Disney mierda to classical erudition - one small leap!