atw: Re: Microsoft Manual of Style
- From: Robert Levy <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 21:16:08 +1100
Who made up that rule and why should the millions of people who say "mice" in
this context care?
Those people are proof that in English, some inanimate objects indeed do use
the "ice" plural.
rwl
On 09/02/2012, at 9:01 PM, Ken Randall wrote:
> Furthermore, the "ice" plural e.g. mouse & mice, louse & lice, is only used
> for
> biological creatures, so it is incorrect to use it for an inanimate object.
>
> --- On Thu, 9/2/12, Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> From: Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: atw: Microsoft Manual of Style
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Received: Thursday, 9 February, 2012, 10:39 AM
>
> To anyone still reading this list ...
>
> Some of you may know that the most recent version of the Microsoft® Manual of
> Style was recently published. I bought myself a Kindle version for $9.99.
> Some people would probably have nothing to do with a Microsoft publication,
> but I've always found their advice very sensible and they've made a serious
> attempt to standardise terminology relating to user interfaces, which was
> badly needed.
>
> I was interested to read what they said about mouse terminology. We had a
> protracted discussion about the plural of 'mouse' on this list some years
> ago, in which I railed against the word 'mouses'. Microsoft always advocated
> using 'mouse devices', which I thought was a bit silly, but still better than
> 'mouses'. Well, now they appear to have shifted a little bit, as the new
> Manual of Style says 'use mouse devices if you can. Otherwise, use mice.'
>
> As they say, a small step for Man. Or Mouse?
>
> Howard
>
Other related posts:
