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From the project documentation [0]: > The mcron program represents a complete re-think of the cron concept originally found in the Berkeley and AT&T unices "U

From the project documentation [0]: > The mcron program represents a complete re-think of the cron concept originally found in the Berkeley and AT&T unices "Unices" as in the plural of "Unix"? I've never heard that before, but that's amazing. [0] https://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/manual/mcron.html https://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/manual/mcron.html

jstimpfle 8y ago
It's a common term.
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Semirhage 8y ago
The Latinate -ix suffix becomes -ice/s when pluralized, as in matrix and matrices, or dominatrix and dominatrices.
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  But...UNIX is not Latin, but seems to be a corruption of an English acronym. So a pedant may argue that this is incorrect.
  - arundelo 8y ago
    “[A]lmost anything ending in ‘x’ may form plurals in ‘-xen’ (see VAXen and boxen in the main text). Even words ending in phonetic /k/ alone are sometimes treated this way; e.g., ‘soxen’ for a bunch of socks. Other funny plurals are the Hebrew-style ‘frobbotzim’ for the plural of ‘frobbozz’ (see frobnitz) and ‘Unices’ and ‘Twenices’ (rather than ‘Unixes’ and ‘Twenexes’; see Unix, TWENEX in main text). [...] The pattern here [...] is generalization of an inflectional rule that in English is either an import or a fossil (such as the Hebrew plural ending ‘-im’, or the Anglo-Saxon plural suffix ‘-en’) to cases where it isn't normally considered to apply. This [...] is grammatical creativity, a form of playfulness.” http://catb.org/jargon/html/overgeneralization.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/overgeneralization.html
  - bitwize 8y ago
    People do it anyway for giggle value. I was using "Pentia" as the plural for "Pentium" soon after the original chip dropped.
- lillesvin 8y ago
  However, -es (as in "unixes") should be perfectly acceptable too. Just like how "indixes" and "matrixes" are fine in English.
  - timerol 8y ago
    I've seen "indexes" and "indices", but never "indixes". I assume that's a typo. Or is "indix" a noun I don't know?
    - lillesvin 8y ago
      Yeah, that's a typo. Sorry about that.
  - Semirhage 8y ago
    Oh? Thanks for the information, I love to learn about English, it has so many quirks!
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BalinKing 8y ago
There's also "x"/"cs" -> "xen"/"csen" (a la "ox" -> "oxen"). See: Emacs -> Emacsen
blunte 8y ago
Like indices vs indexes, either of which is generally accepted as valid.
earenndil 8y ago
Yep! Same for linux -> linuces.

jstimpfle 8y ago

It's a common term.

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Semirhage 8y ago

The Latinate -ix suffix becomes -ice/s when pluralized, as in matrix and matrices, or dominatrix and dominatrices.

jimnotgym 8y ago
But...UNIX is not Latin, but seems to be a corruption of an English acronym. So a pedant may argue that this is incorrect.
- arundelo 8y ago
  “[A]lmost anything ending in ‘x’ may form plurals in ‘-xen’ (see VAXen and boxen in the main text). Even words ending in phonetic /k/ alone are sometimes treated this way; e.g., ‘soxen’ for a bunch of socks. Other funny plurals are the Hebrew-style ‘frobbotzim’ for the plural of ‘frobbozz’ (see frobnitz) and ‘Unices’ and ‘Twenices’ (rather than ‘Unixes’ and ‘Twenexes’; see Unix, TWENEX in main text). [...] The pattern here [...] is generalization of an inflectional rule that in English is either an import or a fossil (such as the Hebrew plural ending ‘-im’, or the Anglo-Saxon plural suffix ‘-en’) to cases where it isn't normally considered to apply. This [...] is grammatical creativity, a form of playfulness.” http://catb.org/jargon/html/overgeneralization.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/overgeneralization.html
- bitwize 8y ago
  People do it anyway for giggle value. I was using "Pentia" as the plural for "Pentium" soon after the original chip dropped.
lillesvin 8y ago
However, -es (as in "unixes") should be perfectly acceptable too. Just like how "indixes" and "matrixes" are fine in English.
- timerol 8y ago
  I've seen "indexes" and "indices", but never "indixes". I assume that's a typo. Or is "indix" a noun I don't know?
  - lillesvin 8y ago
    Yeah, that's a typo. Sorry about that.
- Semirhage 8y ago
  Oh? Thanks for the information, I love to learn about English, it has so many quirks!

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BalinKing 8y ago

There's also "x"/"cs" -> "xen"/"csen" (a la "ox" -> "oxen"). See: Emacs -> Emacsen

blunte 8y ago

Like indices vs indexes, either of which is generally accepted as valid.

earenndil 8y ago

Yep! Same for linux -> linuces.