Just wanted to point out that you sometimes refer to “data” in the singular (e.g., “the data is lacking” in the Stupidest President column http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010622.html ). Actually, it should be “data are lacking,” since “datum” is singular and “data” is plural.
[Edited by bibliophage on 09-16-2001 at 01:30 PM]
From Merriam-Webster
Good enough for me, maybe not for you.
The TM gnaw on the subject:
ATMB is for technical questions about this message board. Comments on Cecil’s columns go in, um, Comments on Cecil’s Columns. I’ll move it for you.
Oh, and a link to the column is appreciated. I added one to your post.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
Boy! am I glad to see this thread. I hate “data are”, which is used so much in print. To me data is a word like sand in that the actual number of grains has no significance. You can have a little sand in your shoe, a sandbox full or all the beaches in Hawaii and it is still sand, except when it is just a grain. Data comes in columns, pages, CD’s and it is still just a bunch of data, except when it is a datum. Maybe it is the scientific community that is more endeared to each and every piece of “datum”, and therefore look at data as individual bits and pieces. To me “data” is just like a pile of sand, nothing real special about the individual grains.
Garner’s <i>A Dictionary of Modern American Usage</i> calls “data” a “skunked term”: both singular and plural are correct, but whichever you use, someone is going to complain.
The media are not reliable on this issue.