4 Responses to Hit Coffee Weekend: English

1. Kirk says:

   May 23, 2010 at 11:31 am

   This brings up the plural of “virus”, which actually turns out to be “viruses.” I always thought it was “virii,” a much-cooler sounding word that’s also easier to pronounce.

   Though Wikipedia insists “virii” is wrong, that is only because it doesn’t gibe with its Latin roots. But we don’t speak Latin, we speak English, a language that has words like Tsunami and Xerox.

   Regardless, the language should serve the people, not the other way around. We should replace “viruses” with “virii,” or at least stop insisting that the latter is somehow wrong.

   And while we’re at it, let’s eliminate “whom.” That word serves no function whatsoever.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus#Virus

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2. Kirk says:

   May 23, 2010 at 11:40 am

   Oh, and “wiki” isn’t latin, either. Along with “app,” and “meme” (which I find to be two of the most annoying newly-coined words around) “wiki” deserves to either be buried or returned to its Hawaiian roots, where it means “quick.”

   http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wiki#English

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3. Brandon Berg says:

   May 24, 2010 at 11:24 pm

   Virii doesn’t even make sense. If “virii” were a word, it would be the plural of “virius,” not “virus.”

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4. trumwill says:

   May 25, 2010 at 3:31 am

   That’s the beauty of the English language. It doesn’t have to make sense.

   The Latin plural of Virus would be viri. But that isn’t as phonetic as virii. Of course, virei or vireyeor a bunch of other variations are more phonetic, but they don’t have the benefit of sounding latin.

   We really do need a better system of plurals for words ending in “s”. I just can’t bring myself to say serieses.

   Who and whom would serve a function if people used it right. Worth the imposition? I’m not sure. Heaven knows I rarely get it right.

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