Computer Mice or Mouses? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

"The Computer as a Communication Device" by J. C. R. Licklider _Science
and
Technology_, April 1968 is reprinted here:
http://memex.org/licklider.pdf
"The center of the area contained six television monitors which
displayed the
alphanumeric output of a computer located elsewhere in the building but
remotely controlled from a keyboard and a set of electronic pointer
controllers
called "mice.""


_Control Systems Magazine_ May 1983 Volume: 3 Issue: 2 P 12 col 3 [IEEE
publications database]
"Pointing devices like roll balls, mouses and touch panels have been
invented."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Garson O'Toole
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 2:27 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Computer Mice or Mouses?
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Computer Mice or Mouses?
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> -
>
> 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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