Ok… Data are a character on Star Trek.
Ackchuallly
Submitted 7 months 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 7 months ago
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Wouldn’t that be a correct thing to say if Data uses singular they/them pronouns?
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 7 months ago
No.
Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months ago
I’m getting the urge to run screaming and call the authorities.
m4xie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
Do his ear next
UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Ew so disgusting. Why would you even suggest something like that???
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This is just an datum point
tetris11@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
Data is as data does.
Maiznieks@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Anyone asked data how they identify themselves?
ikilledtheradiostar@hexbear.net 7 months ago
I have switched to just saying dataset
Ephera@lemmy.ml 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months ago
And the word “data” is only one word, so “data is plural”
Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 7 months ago
Maybe I’m whooshed, but you understand the concept of uncountable nouns, right?