Well, we're all going to get in trouble here, but I'll jump in, too.

One of my favorite examples of public ignorance driving the dictionary is the use of the word "data" as singular, as in, "This data shows ............... ," commonly heard.  Of course, the word "data" is the plural of "datum," and correct usage is, "These data show ..........  . "  On a graph of x,y points, one plotted point is a datum, multiple plotted points are data.  But not any more, as many learned persons demonstrate daily, and as dictionaries now reflect.

So, when I was having oil pressure monitoring problems on my 1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile 2.1 waterboxer engine, my mechanic and I read values from both my after-market electrical, small dial gauge and his shop, mechanical, large dial gauge.  Each separate reading we recorded was a datum.  Collectively the readings were (not was) data.  My mechanic being a bit of a perfectionist, he actually plotted the pressure readings (y-axis) against rpm readings (x-axis) for both his gauge and mine.  He repeated the plots after installing the new matched sensor and gauge.  With my old gauge, the two revealed different curves.  With the new gauge and matched sensor, and with the circuitry tightened and cleaned, the data from both were superimposed in an almost perfect relationship.

Ain't science (and wordplay) fun?

DMc

---- Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> wrote: 
> So is "comprised of" (in some dictionary or another) but it doesn't
> mean it comes from anything but ignorance.
> 
> Jim
> 
> On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 11:10 AM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> > At 11:27 AM 4/15/2010, Loren Busch wrote:
> > Personal non-official request -- It's "preventive" and my teeth itch
> > slightly when I see it
> >
> > Well phooey -- it's in the American Heritage Dictionary as a variant
> > so I'm just going to have to suck it up and live with it.  <dons
> > dunce cap and sits in corner muttering "but it still moves...">
> >
> > Yours,
> > David
> >

--
David McNeely