[Sigia-l] data as information?

[Alexander Johannesen]

On 6/30/05, Dwayne King <pinpointlogic at gmail.com> wrote:
> I know this is being too picky and is really breaking the spirt of the
> debate here

No, no, the spirit of this debate *is* to be picky.

> but there's no such word as datas. Data is already the
> plural of datum. You can sometimes use data as a singular (though
> frowned on by purists) when the implication is that you are referring
> to a body of data. That said, the way most people are referring to
> data on the list are in error when they write "data is," most often
> they should be using it "data are."

Yes, and I'll add that data is the plural of datum. So "datum is" and
"data are".

> Luckily this is a written conversation, so we can avoid the whole
> debate of pronunciation.  :)

Depends on what sort of context you want this conversation to have, that. :)


Alex
-- 
"Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know."
                                                         - Frank Herbert
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