Computer Mice or Mouses?

[Garson O'Toole]

Victor Steinbok wrote
> First recorded use??? WTF? What about the X-driven VAXen? They had mice
> attached... surely there is "recorded" info on those in 1983 or earlier...

The OED has "mouse" in the computer sense starting in 1965. Here is
the citation:

1965 W. K. English & D. C. Engelbart Computer Aided-display Control
(Final Rep. Project 5061, Stanford Res. Inst.) 6   Within comfortable
reach of the user's right hand is a device called the ‘mouse’ which we
developed for evaluation . . as a means for selecting those displayed
text entities upon which the commands are to operate.

I don't see a separate entry for the plural "mice" in the computer
sense, unsurprisingly.

Under "mouse pad" the OED has a January 1982 citation containing the
phrase "Optical mice". These are computer mice:

[Begin excerpt]
mouse pad n. = mousemat n.

1982   R. F. Lyon & M. P. Haeberli in VLSI Design Jan.–Feb. 21/1
Optical mice require a special patterned mouse pad.
[End excerpt]


This can be pushed back to November 1981, I think. (This example is
somewhat ambiguous.)

InfoWorld - Nov 23, 1981 - Page 28
Vol. 3, No. 27 - 72 pages - Magazine - Full view
[Begin excerpt]
Turtles are part of the computer-cursor-control bestiary that also
includes mice. The turtle, frequently appearing as a triangle on the
CRT screen, moves around the screen under orders from the user,
drawing or erasing lines as it goes.
[End excerpt]

The gap between 1965 and 1981 suggests there is room for improvement.

Garson

> On 3/21/2012 1:54 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>> Oxford dictionaries online has an entry for mouse that includes the
>> following note on usage.
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Is the plural of mouse in the computing sense mice or mouses? People
>> often feel that this sense needs its own distinctive plural, but in
>> fact the ordinary plural mice is commoner, and the first recorded use
>> of the term in the plural (1984) is mice.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mouse
>
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