# When talking about data, do we "store it" or "store them"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-talking-about-data-do-we-store-it-or-store-them/712259>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 9, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-talking-about-data-do-we-store-it-or-store-them/712259 "2015-02-09T21:39:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-talking-about-data-do-we-store-it-or-store-them/712259/21 "2015-02-10T16:29:02Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> And then there’s the Stanford Cardinal, which seems to trip up most people because they don’t realize it refers to the color, not the bird.

Especially during the era where they used an “s” on the end of the name, and it was still supposed to mean the color. Then their mascot is a tree, adding to the confusion. I think it would have been funny had they actually gone with “Robber Barons” when they ditched “Indians”:

> **[Stanford Cardinal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Cardinal#Nickname_and_mascot_history)**
>
> The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 136 NCAA team championships, the most of any university. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 48 consecutive years, starting in 1976–77 and continuing through 2023–24. Through June 2024, Stanford athletes have won 554 individual NCAA titles.
> Stanford has won 26 of the 30 NACDA Directors' Cups, awarded annually to the most successful overall college ...

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-talking-about-data-do-we-store-it-or-store-them/712259/22 "2015-02-10T16:43:17Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Actually pretty common, but we usually say “data point” for the singular.

Well, common if those terms are entirely interchangeable, which I would dispute.

For example, if every millisecond my program collected some data in a struct, I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to each instance of the struct as a data point.  
I would hesitate to call it a datum though because that seems to have some sort of implication of being indivisible.

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