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Somebody gave one of my students a fairly (< 1yr old) new laptop the other day because they got it loaded up with viruses, (virii?) There is a market segment wi

Somebody gave one of my students a fairly (< 1yr old) new laptop the other day because they got it loaded up with viruses, (virii?) There is a market segment with more money than brains, it is large.

slurry 13y ago
Viruses.
deleted 13y ago
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singlow 13y ago
Word is from Latin - Latin plural is viri. The double i would only occur if the stem already ends in i, such as radius: radi- + -us. http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/WORDS.EXE?virus http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/WORDS.EXE?virus In English the plural is viruses.
- itsameta4 13y ago
  In Latin, "virus" is a mass noun, like "stuff", "water", or "poison", its original meaning. There is no attested plural. Being of originally Greek origin doesn't help matters. In English, there's never a reason to use anything other than "viruses".
- lloeki 13y ago
  > Latin plural is viri Actually, virus is a "mass noun" (uncountable) and has no plural. If it ever had a nominative plural it would be vira, and out of anything, viri is its genitive singular.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Word is from Latin - Latin plural is viri. No, that's the Latin plural of vir; viri means "men" not "poisons" ("virus" means "poison" in Latin.) [1] http://www.google.com/#q=translate+viri+from+latin+to+english http://www.google.com/#q=translate+viri+from+latin+to+englis...
  - singlow 13y ago
    Oops. I mistook the genitive listing in Whitaker for a plural.
bad_user 13y ago
I don't see how (a) one example of stupidity is representative for the populace at large and (b) how this particular example is relevant at all. If one person is ignorant in one domain, that doesn't mean that person doesn't excel in another domain. Stupidity is relative. E.g. my father can't use a computer and thinks his computer is broken whenever he has minor problems with it. On the other hand he has a perfect track record in managing government institutions and the family's business and he's also extremely good at handling money and being a cheap bastard. He never learned to use a computer simply because he can delegate such tasks to his subordinates (or me). And yet you've placed him in the bucket of people with more money than brains, simply because somebody on this planet sold his computer because it was virused.

Somebody gave one of my students a fairly (< 1yr old) new laptop the other day because they got it loaded up with viruses, (virii?) There is a market segment with more money than brains, it is large.

slurry 13y ago

Viruses.

deleted 13y ago

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singlow 13y ago

Word is from Latin - Latin plural is viri. The double i would only occur if the stem already ends in i, such as radius: radi- + -us. http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/WORDS.EXE?virus http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/WORDS.EXE?virus In English the plural is viruses.

itsameta4 13y ago
In Latin, "virus" is a mass noun, like "stuff", "water", or "poison", its original meaning. There is no attested plural. Being of originally Greek origin doesn't help matters. In English, there's never a reason to use anything other than "viruses".
lloeki 13y ago
> Latin plural is viri Actually, virus is a "mass noun" (uncountable) and has no plural. If it ever had a nominative plural it would be vira, and out of anything, viri is its genitive singular.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> Word is from Latin - Latin plural is viri. No, that's the Latin plural of vir; viri means "men" not "poisons" ("virus" means "poison" in Latin.) [1] http://www.google.com/#q=translate+viri+from+latin+to+english http://www.google.com/#q=translate+viri+from+latin+to+englis...
- singlow 13y ago
  Oops. I mistook the genitive listing in Whitaker for a plural.

bad_user 13y ago

I don't see how (a) one example of stupidity is representative for the populace at large and (b) how this particular example is relevant at all. If one person is ignorant in one domain, that doesn't mean that person doesn't excel in another domain. Stupidity is relative. E.g. my father can't use a computer and thinks his computer is broken whenever he has minor problems with it. On the other hand he has a perfect track record in managing government institutions and the family's business and he's also extremely good at handling money and being a cheap bastard. He never learned to use a computer simply because he can delegate such tasks to his subordinates (or me). And yet you've placed him in the bucket of people with more money than brains, simply because somebody on this planet sold his computer because it was virused.