[Fedora] Re: Help me find 5 mistakes and than solution to thoes mistakes!
Robert Crowther
robertc at gmail.com
Fri Aug 20 21:52:13 UTC 2004
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 14:57:40 -0600, Ashley M. Kirchner
<ashley at pcraft.com> wrote:
> Andrew Dietz wrote:
> CACTI is a valid plural for cactus, as is cactuses. VIRII on the
> other hand isn't one for virus.
>
I'm glad I read these off-topic threads from time to time, I always
thought Virii was perfectly acceptable, if not more correct, with it
being a latin root and all. I wondered if it was a difference between
American and British english but a quick check in OSED set me
straight.
Apparently for latin viri is correct:
http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?virus , but the latin
meaning is a bit divorced from the current english meaning.
We could have a nice argument about how usage defines language rather
than rules thought up by Victorians, but I wouldn't want to start that
:)
Rob
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