[CentOS] Plurals in English (was Re: ClamAV reports a trojan)

[Liam O'Toole]

On 2015-04-17, Peter Lawler
<centos at bleeter.id.au> wrote:
> [OT ALERT]
>
> On 17/04/15 02:28, Valeri Galtsev wrote:
>
>> clamav is a scanner that is designed to detect viruses (virii I
>> should use for plural as it is Latin word) 
> I believe this 'rule' in English is misunderstood by many and as a
> general rule of thumb...  tl;dr: Words from Old English that came into
> modern English, use 'Old English' pluralisation: eg, sheep, fish etc.
> words adopted from other languages into English before and after
> modern English established, use 'modern' pluralisation eg, tsunamis,
> octopuses.
>
><rant> As 'virus' was adopted into English for usage in relation to
>bugs, malwares etc. after the formation of modern English, the plural
>of computer virus is computer viruses. IMO, in a medical sense, the
>virus was first described in the 1890 - well after the formation of
>modern English so even then the plural of virus in English is viruses.

I agree entirely. Also relevant is the fact that the Latin word 'virus'
does not admit a plural form.

>
> Reasoning: If one had to learn the pluralisation of every word adopted
> into modern English, then an English speaker would have to learn the
> pluralisation rules for far more than just English (see above re
> tsunami, octopus but also consider other non old English words such as
> emoji alligator mannequin boulevard cookie umbrella alcohol nadir etc.)
> For old English words, the pluralisation rules for them was set before
> modern English evolved into what we know today so those old rules still
> apply.
>
> All in all, makes it a lot easier to know how to spell English plurals.
>
> Some think opctopi is the plural of octopuses, when it wouldn't be
> because it's Greek and not Latin anyway...
>
> To whit: the belief many have that the English plural of virus is virii,
> when in fact if anything it'd be afaik viri - which it isn't.

The Latin word 'viri' translates as 'men', if I remember my school Latin
correctly. :-)

>
> my 2c.
>
> Pete.
>
> [Authority: Platypuses, or Platypus - I believe the linguists are still
> out on that one - live near me ;) ]

-- 

Liam