atw: Re: Microsoft Manual of Style
- From: Ken Randall <kenneth_james_randall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 04:27:34 -0800 (PST)
Who made up that rule and why should the millions of people who say "mice" in
this context care?
Why should the hundreds of millions who do follow the rule not count?
Those people are proof that in English, some inanimate objects indeed do use
the "ice" plural.
That is a circular argument - I break the rule so there is no rule.
--- On Thu, 9/2/12, Robert Levy <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Robert Levy <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Re: Microsoft Manual of Style
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Received: Thursday, 9 February, 2012, 9:16 PM
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
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