Yeah, high class!

Far more importantly, "forums" sounds awkward.


But I will never agree "to go boldly where no one has gone before." :O)

Winston Churchill started out as a war correspondent. One day he received a telegram from his editor in London, admonishing him to avoid split infinitives.

His response telegram? "That is an imposition up with which I shall not put!"

Origin of this "rule"?
*One* person thought that since Latin didn't have split infinitives (the structure of its verb forms makes it impossible), English shouldn't have it either.

Ummmm, no. We don't have to accept everything that is suggested...

As Caesar said to Cleopatra, "Vidi Vici Veni!"

(In English: "I saw, I conquered," etc., you all know the rest from school.)

:O]

darn, I thought this was congrats on my new teaching gig. LOL.

Latin was one language I never understood and NEVER liked.

I HOPE your teaching gig isn't irrelevant. And congratulations, anyway.

WT

I hope its not irrelevant either. What I meant was irrelevant to the forum :)

All I know is I get to etach by the beach. What can get better than that?

I've struggled with "fora" -- or the use thereof -- several times. Basically, I think you have to "pick your spots", lest you appear to be priggish to the others who frequent the forum. In some places, using technically-proper English can brand you as "stuffy", and result in having virtual decaying vegetables hurled in your direction.

Clearly, the level of discourse here is on a higher plane. Let the thrasonical bombast begin!

Well, speaking of the distinction between Latin and English, one could put forth the equally valid and forceful argument that English has adopted the word "forum" and it has now gone native, so to speak. The proper English pluralization form for "forum" is "forum". The form that results in "fora" is from a different language and is therefore invalid in English usage.

One could also spuriously add that Latin is now considered a dead language and it's rules shouldn't apply anymore anyway.

I refer everyone to the gramatical analysis of "Romans go home" from Monty Pythons "Life of Brian"

Mike

Well, I think we can all release a sigh of relief, as it appears from a quick survey of online dictionaries that either plural form may be used.

The ones that I looked at most frequently list "forums" first, with "fora" as an alternate. There was at lease on that listed only "fora" and several that suggested only "forums".

I guess either use is okay, but use "fora" at cocktail parties and guests will immediately know that: (1) you are intellectually a cut above the others, and (2) you either took Latin in High School, or you are a regular reader of the Vegas forum.

BTW in my case, my Latin education came from Father Joseph, freshman year, Don Bosco Technical Institute (Southern California). The guy was older than Moses and the entire freshman class (all males) were terrified of him, since he was the school disciplinarian. Actually a very nice guy.

Riredale,

That was a great observation about Vegas Forum users! :O)

To the Forum!

Clarity is most important (if we desire to actually communicate), followed by flow.

The former speaks for "forums" because everybody will understand what is meant, but the latter speaks for "fora" because it is easier to say and makes any sentence using it flow better (by avoiding the multiple-consonant "m-s" sound).

Because historical Latin quotes are so commonly used even today (in law, in science as well as popular use), it is good to know the meaning of at least the more common ones.

For example, Caesar's saying "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered") to announce to the Senate his victory over Pharnaces. It was short and elegant and conveyed a feel-good "yawn, that was easy..."

These verb forms are so terse it is easy to get them mixed up, as happened when Caesar saw Cleopatra later that day... (see my earlier post :O).

Caesar had a victory over Pharmacies? I'm glad somebody did...

Fora...huh. Have to stop saying there's a lot of datums on my drive.
.

Good example with "datum" as singular of "data".

Today though, even 60% of the Houghton Mifflin American Heritage Usage Panel prefer to think of "data" as singular, even though grammatically it is not so.

Pharnaces was king of Pontus but overran more territory in the Roman civil war, so Caesar came from Egypt to stop him.

Spoken like a true teacher, thanks. Despite my silliness on a Friday afternoon, I'm the one in my office usually correcting people's grammar (in English--in a law firm!). Take a fellow from Arkansas, run him through an Ivy school and law school, stick him in NYC and you get a Huppie. (Hillbilly Urban Professional).

Whoop. There I go again. Time to go home.

(Deleted a spelling error in last post.)

...............I'm the one in my office usually correcting people's grammar

I'm sure your coworkers appreciate that.

My motto:

"I don't reckon I need no fancy book learnin'!"

<Struggling with German grammar as this is being written>