atw: Re: Mouses??

  • From: Janice Gelb <janice.gelb@xxxxxxx>
  • To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 04:01:29 +1000

Howard Silcock wrote:

I'm getting more and more irritated by people who tell me that the plural of
'mouse', in computer contexts, is 'mouses'. Who makes these ridiculous
decisions? The attempts I've seen to justify make it seem all the more
ridiculous - how on earth can anyone say that 'mouse' is a 'headless noun'
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural)? (At least they didn't say
it was tailless!)
Has anyone been given 'mouses' as an official plural in their 'house style'?
If so, I urge you to rebel and stamp out this ridiculous usage (no, not
stamp on the poor mouse). Let's hear it for the mice!

While I think "mouses" is ridiculous, I also object to "mice" for the plural. Our style guide recommends "mouse devices" if you really need a plural but most of the time we try to rewrite so as to use the singular.

-- Janice

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