Ok… Data are a character on Star Trek.
Ackchuallly
Submitted 1 month ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/d7a9d3cb-46a3-4d54-9deb-f2e9f6533e86.jpeg
Comments
themeatbridge@lemmy.world 1 month ago
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Wouldn’t that be a correct thing to say if Data uses singular they/them pronouns?
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 month ago
No.
Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
Three whole hours and the descriptivists haven’t come by to tell us there are no rules to language. This might be a record.
my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 1 month ago
There definitely are rules to language, which are determined by how the language is actually used. The issue with prescriptivists is that they invent their own rules which often go against how the language is used, i.e. the rules are nonsense.
Take the “less vs fewer” argument. Everyone happily uses ‘less’ in pretty much the same way for nearly a millennium, then some prescriptivist asswipe comes along and says they don’t like it so now there’s a rule. Prescriptivists spend the next couple of centuries yelling about their new rule and creaming themselves over how they’re now ‘better’ at the language than other people while everyone else just doesn’t give a fuck and continue to speak normally.
In the end language is just a tool to communicate ideas. If you clearly understood someone but whine because they ignored your made up rules you’re the asshole.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
i’d say the bigger issue with prescriptivists is that they don’t think the rules of language are allowed to change, nor are you allowed to violate the rules.
Everyone must speak exactly the same language, dialects are verboten and so is change.
LynneOfFlowers@midwest.social 1 month ago
I guess I tend to use data as a mass noun when referring to computer data (“there’s a lot of data on that drive”) and as a regular noun when referring to data in the scientific sense (“these data show xyz”)
UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I’m kinda getting the urge to lick between this guy’s front teeth just to see what it feels/tastes like.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 1 month ago
I’m getting the urge to run screaming and call the authorities.
m4xie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
Do his ear next
UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Ew so disgusting. Why would you even suggest something like that???
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 1 month ago
This is just an datum point
tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Data is as data does.
Maiznieks@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Anyone asked data how they identify themselves?
ikilledtheradiostar@hexbear.net 1 month ago
I have switched to just saying dataset
Ephera@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
As Wiktionary puts it:
It’s like “hair”. You can hold a single ‘hair’, you can also hold three hairs. But if you’re looking at an entire mane, you ain’t counting, so it’s referred to as “hair” again.
AccountMaker@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
Yeah, but for example, IEEE conference paper templates explicitly state “The word ‘data’ is plural, not singilar”. So if you use it with a singular verb you will receive this post in an email and you can only say thank you and change it.
averyminya@beehaw.org 1 month ago
The piece of data and the data overall suggest that…
Over categorization is a lie that only causes more problems. Stop the forcing of categorizing things. Just let things exist.
tulliandar@lemmy.world 1 month ago
And the word “data” is only one word, so “data is plural”
Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
Maybe I’m whooshed, but you understand the concept of uncountable nouns, right?