Accents in Am. English

[Bruce Dykes]

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph McCollum <prez234 at JUNO.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2000 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: Accents in Am. English


>So, would I be off the mark in saying that "Day-ta" is singular but
>"Dat-ta" is plural?
>We have an in-house editor who insists that data is always plural.  I've
>always liked the expression:  "If you torture the data enough, it will
>confess to anything."  (somehow "they will confess" doesn't carry quite
>the same effect).  Then again, maybe it's like "Ham and eggs is my
>favorite breakfast."

I was taught that the singular is datum (I use a short a), plural data, and
I use a short a almost exclusively when it's alone and a long a in at least
one compound, database.

bkd