addenda/s ...alumni

[Dave Wilton]

> I vote for 3), simple reanalysis:  the majority of English speakers,
> including those who have graduated from college, are under the
> impression that "alumni" is a singular, and has effectively (if, to
> some of us, regrettably) regrettably.  I certainly hear "X is an
> alumni of" as a singular all the time on sports talk radio, in
> contexts excluding any compound source ("alumni association").
> Perhaps expansion of "alum" is involved, but I tend to think it's
> more like the way "criteria" has become a singular, when neither (1)
> nor (2) are motivations.

I concur. Going back to my undergraduate days (1981-85), the word "alumni"
was the preferred singular form (for both sexes). "Alumnus" was rare, being
confined mainly to official school publications. "Almuna" and "alumnae" were
nowhere to be heard or seen. I would bet the majority of my fellow students
knew that "alumni" was plural and male in Latin, but that did not affect the
English usage of any but a few pedants.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net