mouses, dammit
Nov. 28th, 2007 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rena_librarianMy ball mouse, after almost 4 1/2 months, is finally starting to catch--yesterday it wouldn't go all the way to the right, and it did it again this morning so I took out the ball, rubbed it off, and stuck it back in. (This resulted only in the reorientation of the ball so that now it won't go all the way to the top, but that's beside the point.) This caused me to briefly consider ripping it out of my computer, dragging it by the cord behind me to Brad and John's office, and insisting that they provide me with a "girl" mouse. (As opposed to one with a ball...haha...)
The only real thing that's stopping me is that I don't know if they would have one to give me.
Anyway: POINT OF STORY: if I were to throw this fit, would I tell them that I wanted one of the "girl" mouses or one of the "girl" mice?
Now, I have a very distinct memory of watching a trivia "game show," I think it was on a news channel (like one of the really boring ones, Bloomberg or CSPAN or something)--I'm thinking it was more like a televised college bowl or some such than an actual game show. Now, it got down to the sudden death round, and the question was, "In such-and-such year, so-and-so made an official declaration on the plural of his invention, the mouse. Is the plural mice or mouses?" Geeky college kid isn't sure and goes with "mice"--and loses the game. His teammates are crying over it. It's horrible, and the idea that the correct plural is "mouses" will always stick with me. It's what I say, on the rare occasion that I refer to more than one mouse.
So I went on the internet looking for proof. (Because everything on the internet is true. *nods*) I can't find anything about said game show, but a lot of people are weighing in on this all over the internet. I'm not going to point to any polls or forums, where you find speculation and opinions but no facts. It seems a fair number of tech people are uneducated on this point--"I've been working with computers for 25 years and I've always said mice!" Yeah, and you probably dangle prepositions, too--our NETWORK GUY here at work has never officially learned to TYPE and has to look at his keyboard. You tech people are not infallible, even about computers.
Nowhere have I been able to find any official proof that my way is right, and many sites say that since there's no official answer, either one is acceptable (an opinion backed up by the American Heritage Dictionary, according to dictionary.com.)
This site takes my side, quite plainly, but I have no idea why a town's website would weigh in on this issue. O_o
The other thing I found in my research is that "mouse" is an acronym (a true acronym, because it spells a word, yay--initials that do not make actual words are just abbreviations, read up if you wish): Manually Operated User-Selection Equipment. Since the last word is "equipment" the argument can be made that the plural is, in fact, mouse--like deer or sheep. (Have you ever referred to "equipments?") I don't buy it, though--it'll never catch on. It's an acronym that has moved to not being capitalized and is now a word-word, and few people know it ever was an acronym. I didn't, until today. (There's gotta be a word for that, too, acronyms becoming words...and I'd show you my research but I'm finding out enough to make another separate post--go to wikipedia and read about RAS syndrome. ...well, huh. I guess there's not a word for it. But there should be.)
But I digress, again. (I'm having way too much fun with this.) Back to mouse being an acronym--anything else that's an acronym, when pluralized, gets a small s on the end. Ie, NIMBYs, IEPs...yeah, I'm not coming up with any others, but there you have it. So, MOUSEs.
Between a supposed "official" ruling (nevermind that no one on the internet took the time to document it) and that it was an acronym, that's enough for me. I will stick to my guns and keep calling them mouses, and continue to look down upon you morons who think it should be mice. (I say this, of course, with all due respect. *sniggle* Really, I'm kidding. Sort of.)
And the thing of it is, it's just nice to have "mouses" because it differentiates trackball devices from rodents. (On that note we should just come up with a better word to begin with, but that's a separate issue entirely. Though you better believe "mouse" beats "XY Position Indicator For A Display System"--that's how the first one was patented. Though trying to say XYPIFADS could be mildly entertaining, for a short period of time...)
Also, Kristy agrees with me, not having seen any of this. I just asked her and she was all, well, duh, it's mouses, everyone knows that. HAHA.
The only real thing that's stopping me is that I don't know if they would have one to give me.
Anyway: POINT OF STORY: if I were to throw this fit, would I tell them that I wanted one of the "girl" mouses or one of the "girl" mice?
Now, I have a very distinct memory of watching a trivia "game show," I think it was on a news channel (like one of the really boring ones, Bloomberg or CSPAN or something)--I'm thinking it was more like a televised college bowl or some such than an actual game show. Now, it got down to the sudden death round, and the question was, "In such-and-such year, so-and-so made an official declaration on the plural of his invention, the mouse. Is the plural mice or mouses?" Geeky college kid isn't sure and goes with "mice"--and loses the game. His teammates are crying over it. It's horrible, and the idea that the correct plural is "mouses" will always stick with me. It's what I say, on the rare occasion that I refer to more than one mouse.
So I went on the internet looking for proof. (Because everything on the internet is true. *nods*) I can't find anything about said game show, but a lot of people are weighing in on this all over the internet. I'm not going to point to any polls or forums, where you find speculation and opinions but no facts. It seems a fair number of tech people are uneducated on this point--"I've been working with computers for 25 years and I've always said mice!" Yeah, and you probably dangle prepositions, too--our NETWORK GUY here at work has never officially learned to TYPE and has to look at his keyboard. You tech people are not infallible, even about computers.
Nowhere have I been able to find any official proof that my way is right, and many sites say that since there's no official answer, either one is acceptable (an opinion backed up by the American Heritage Dictionary, according to dictionary.com.)
This site takes my side, quite plainly, but I have no idea why a town's website would weigh in on this issue. O_o
The other thing I found in my research is that "mouse" is an acronym (a true acronym, because it spells a word, yay--initials that do not make actual words are just abbreviations, read up if you wish): Manually Operated User-Selection Equipment. Since the last word is "equipment" the argument can be made that the plural is, in fact, mouse--like deer or sheep. (Have you ever referred to "equipments?") I don't buy it, though--it'll never catch on. It's an acronym that has moved to not being capitalized and is now a word-word, and few people know it ever was an acronym. I didn't, until today. (There's gotta be a word for that, too, acronyms becoming words...and I'd show you my research but I'm finding out enough to make another separate post--go to wikipedia and read about RAS syndrome. ...well, huh. I guess there's not a word for it. But there should be.)
But I digress, again. (I'm having way too much fun with this.) Back to mouse being an acronym--anything else that's an acronym, when pluralized, gets a small s on the end. Ie, NIMBYs, IEPs...yeah, I'm not coming up with any others, but there you have it. So, MOUSEs.
Between a supposed "official" ruling (nevermind that no one on the internet took the time to document it) and that it was an acronym, that's enough for me. I will stick to my guns and keep calling them mouses, and continue to look down upon you morons who think it should be mice. (I say this, of course, with all due respect. *sniggle* Really, I'm kidding. Sort of.)
And the thing of it is, it's just nice to have "mouses" because it differentiates trackball devices from rodents. (On that note we should just come up with a better word to begin with, but that's a separate issue entirely. Though you better believe "mouse" beats "XY Position Indicator For A Display System"--that's how the first one was patented. Though trying to say XYPIFADS could be mildly entertaining, for a short period of time...)
Also, Kristy agrees with me, not having seen any of this. I just asked her and she was all, well, duh, it's mouses, everyone knows that. HAHA.
