no - Concise Oxford (not Australian)

datum (pl ~a) 1. Thing known or granted... from which inference may be
drawn.
2. (in pl., also treated as sing.) Facts or information .....

But I'm afraid popular use always finally wins over any written
dictionary...

Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: Helen Borrie [mailto:helebor@...]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 February 2003 3:58 PM
To: ib-support@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [ib-support] Metadata


At 03:07 PM 11/02/2003 +1100, you wrote:

>I'm afraid the Oxford English Dictionary disagrees with you

Australian-only edition?
:-))

Collins English Dictionary, Australian and New Zealand edition:

data n.pl. (sing. datum) things known and from which inferences may deduced
[L. data, things given]
....
datum n. a fact given;---pl. data.

heLen

>Alan
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Helen Borrie [mailto:helebor@...]
>Sent: Tuesday, 11 February 2003 2:52 PM
>To: ib-support@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: RE: [ib-support] Metadata
>
>
>At 02:34 PM 11/02/2003 +1100, you wrote:
> >Sorry Helen,
> >But when data is the plural of datum ("a reference from which inference

may

> >be drawn") it is a plural noun. When data refers to "facts or

information"

> >is is also treated as a singular noun.
>
>But "data" is plural. One datum, many data. I agree people use it as if
>it were a singular noun. But think of this:
>
>a date is a "datum", or a "piece of data" or a "data item". It is not a
>"data" and nobody uses it that way.
>
>Careless speakers/writers (myself included, at times) will say "This data
>is.." when they mean "This piece of data is..." or "These data
>are..." Careless usage doesn't make it right. I write a lot of technical
>documentation and I am always careful to treat "data" and "metadata" as
>plural. American and Australian editors tend to be sloppy about it. New
>Zealand, British and European editors are more particular...
>
>Similarly, "schema" is singular. A database has one schema, two databases
>have two schemata...I said the terms "metadata" and "schema" were often
>used interchangeably. However, they are different styles of noun. In this
>context, "metadata" is used as if it were a group noun, like "electorate"
>or "river catchment". However, you can have multiple electorates, river
>catchments or schemata. You can't have multiple metadatas.
>:-))
>heLen
>
>
>Helen
>
>
>
>
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