Grammar that makes you cringe

[Cudzoziemiec]

I don't remember coming across "medias" but I can think of contexts where both "medias" and "mediums" could be used. Mediums: different types of medium, such as floppy disk, cassette, hand signals, etc. Medias: different types of media, such as TV, newspapers, etc, or different TV stations and so on. "Most medias are available on many mediums. TV stations broadcast on the internet and newspapers run their own radio channels." It's ugly but they do or can have distinct meanings.

[drossall]

They shouldn't. The media (newspapers etc.) are media because there are more than one of them. Storage media ditto.

If you've only got one disc, or one newspaper, it's a medium. Pretty basic meaning, because a medium is a means of transmitting or transferring or carrying something.

But we've done all that...

[Andrij]

'Fora' and the proper use of 'data' have been the subject of many debates in this office.  Thankfully correct usage was come out on top.

[drossall]

Thankfully correct usage was come out on top.

[Tigerrr]

Have we done 'pre-prepared' yet?   

[pcolbeck]

Its a double "pre" but it's correct and makes sense. Prepare has lost most of the sense of the original latin formation through its journey through Middle French to English. We don't have "pare" as a word for make so that pre-pare would mean make in advance or before.
Anyone know if the French use prepare or its equivalent and if it retains the original latin meaning or the English usage ?

[Andrij]

Thankfully correct usage was come out on top.

The pitfalls of multi-tasking, should say has.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Its a double "pre" but it's correct and makes sense. Prepare has lost most of the sense of the original latin formation through its journey through Middle French to English. We don't have "pare" as a word for make so that pre-pare would mean make in advance or before.
Anyone know if the French use prepare or its equivalent and if it retains the original latin meaning or the English usage ?

"Here's one I made earlier" works so much better than "Here's one I prepared". 

[citoyen]

I am doing an online course...

Sorry to pick on you, rr, but this is a personal bugbear - the ubiquitous use of "doing" when an alternative verb might be more elegant.

Taking a course, perhaps?

But it's no biggie. I shan't lose any sleep over it.

Fora, stadia, genii etc are ugly and unwelcome pedanticisms.

[clarion]

Where might he be taking it to?

[jsabine]

I am doing an online course...

Sorry to pick on you, rr, but this is a personal bugbear - the ubiquitous use of "doing" when an alternative verb might be more elegant.

In a similar vein, my English teacher has left me with an abhorrence of 'get' or 'got' where any other construction can offer more precision or elegance.

Fora, stadia, genii etc are ugly and unwelcome pedanticisms.

I quite like stadia - stadiums feels ponderous. Fora risks being read as a typo for flora (and it's ugly), while genii is just silly. Back-formations like Guinnii were amusing once (and still are, after sufficient, um, Guinnii).

[Wowbagger]

I struggle with it too. I prefer to use "these data". But then, I still write, and sometimes say, "whom".

Ah, but I suspect you are old enough to recall Britain's unknown prime minister, Sir Alec Douglas Whom?

[pcolbeck]

Fora / Forums is contextual. If I was writing about Rome I would definitely use fora but about online stuff then forums. Not sure why but it would feel wrong otherwise.

[citoyen]

Where might he be taking it to?

The same place he takes his newspaper of choice. Or his medicine.

[clarion]

Or a nap.

[red marley]

I almost always treat data as plural to the extent I get surprised when someone else raises an eyebrow at my use of 'these data are...' etc. For me this is more than language pedantry. I deal with lots of data in my job and probably use the word 30+ times a day at work. I am usually discussing this in the context of how to process individual items within a dataset, and so it is handy to have a word that implies the plurality of the data. Whether or not there is more than one collection of data is often a moot point as this may be an arbitrary distinction based on file formats, collection organisation etc. So generally I have no need to make the distinction that Ian H refers to.

I still find myself referring to 'an item of data' rather than 'datum' when needing to reference the singular, but that is partly because in my line of work 'datum' is more commonly associated with a sea-level type benchmark for height measurements and geodesy.

[drossall]

It's a useful distinction, though. "Data" used as a plural says something about what is being handled that "data" as a singular does not - that it's a collection that probably needs to be organised, handled and given structure.

[SteveC]

As for Latinate plurals: I was once told that insects have antennae, radars have antennas.

[T42]

I thought radar used aerials.

Interesting: the difference in pronunciation between ablative used in grammar and ablative used in engineering.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Fora / Forums is contextual. If I was writing about Rome I would definitely use fora but about online stuff then forums. Not sure why but it would feel wrong otherwise.

Because the meanings are different.

[drossall]

Why different? A forum is a meeting place. The Web ones are just virtual.

[Cudzoziemiec]

And that's the difference. In a hundred years it will probably cease to be important and we'll use one form again.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A group of people who claim they can contact the dead: media or mediums?
Their online meeting places: Mediums' forums? Media fora? Mediums' fora? Media forums? Medias' fora? How do you make a word like media possessive without talking Latin?

Or maybe "chat rooms for psychics"!

[drossall]

What about the use of "education" where "training" is meant? Education tends to imbue broad, re-usable skills that can be applied in many areas. Training is more aimed at how to do specific tasks. Many companies now have "customer education" departments, when they mean "training". I'm not sure that "educating" customers that your product is best is appropriate; the word there is "indoctrination", surely?

[citoyen]

How do you make a word like media possessive without talking Latin?

Apostrophe-S seems fine to me.

The different meanings have a common etymology so it would be consistent to use the same plural form for both... except that "media" for "more than one psychic" sounds utterly ridiculous. And sounding ridiculous for the sake of pedantic correctness is generally to be avoided.