3 ms·
> These data are striking. The use of 'data' to mean 'plural of datum' continues to fall out of favor in modern usage. Encountering it in a Saturday-morning br
by ISL 9y ago
> These data are striking.
The use of 'data' to mean 'plural of datum' continues to fall out of favor in modern usage. Encountering it in a Saturday-morning browse was a note of angelic harmony to start the day.
- abysmalfitzg 9y agoWould you not agree that it might be a bit of a British thing (the author is Oxford educated)? A reflexive urge to pluralize bands, companies and other startup-proximate collective nouns. '"Data are" doesn't roll of their tongues smoothly. But for British readers the plural is more natural.' [0] [0] https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/07/point-information https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/07/point-... BTW I looked you up. Do you know anything about Richard Muller's ideas for realising table-top detectors of gravitational waves?
- ISL 9y agoWhether it's a British thing or not is beyond my knowledge. I just wanted to celebrate something that made me happy :). Regarding Richard Muller's proposals: I don't -- confusingly, I am familiar with Holger Müller's proposals, and it would appear that they are both at Berkeley. Experiment is the arbiter of truth; whenever any new instrumentation can demonstrably reach the relevant sensitivity and systematic-effect rejection necessary to do a job better than it has been done before, we'll all switch to it.