Subject: Re: Singlular of "mouses" Was: Re: Negative ordinality

> Garth Wallace wrote at 2003-12-17 15:53:48 (-0800)
>  > Peter Bleackley wrote:
>  > >
>  > > By analogy with "oxen". Particularly applies to VAX machines, or
>  > > VAXen.
>  >
>  > Also "unixen", meaning multiple varieties of UNIX. From the Jargon
>  > File's entry on overgeneralization in geekspeak
>  > <http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/overgeneralization.html>:
> [snip Jargon]
>  >
>
> But as that passage points out, "unixen" is rare;  the normal form is
> "unices".

My favorite computer-related plural is UNIX -> UNIcies! (Just like index ->
indicies). I've never heard "Unixen" AFAIK.

And I'll admit I've never heard "boxen", but then I'm to young to have ever
worked with VAXen.

Regarding ordinals, I tend to make things even more confusing by using
_both_ 'first' and 'zeroeth' to refer to a[0]. I _think_ it depends on
context. If I use the term 'array' I'm talking about the computer's
representation of the data, and will use 'zeroeth', but if I'm talking
about it like a 'list' of physical items, I may use the term 'first'. In
fact, I might even get sloppy and say something really confusing like:

"The first integer in the list is the zeroeth element of the array."

without so much as flinching.

Another (related) use of "zeroeth" which I haven't heard mentioned yet is
in summations. Usually you take a sum with i=1 to n, but often it is
convenient to start at 0, in which case you have to start adding at the
"zeroeth term." In a few rare cases, I've even seen summations that begin
at -1, with the obvious result of starting with the "minus oneth" term.

Thanks,
~Caleb

Replies