Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 22-26 August 2011 (1996-2000)
jwhouk:
--- Quote from: St.Clair on 27 Aug 2011, 18:47 ---Consider that if we ever do manage to perfectly simulate a human mind, the initial result will be a blank-slate sociopath with strong inherent desires that it can only communicate in the simplest terms, mostly by acting out... i.e., any newborn baby.
--- End quote ---
"Hel-lo Doc-tor Fal-ken. Would you like to play a game?"
Mr. Doctor:
First of all, I'm not a whining person. This is just pure curiosity (specially since english is not my mother tongue)
Is Jimbo wrong when he says "automatons" back in 1526?
I know wikipedia is not the best source ever but it says that automatons is acceptable like automata.
PS: I posted it here because a thread about it would be silly.
Skewbrow:
Merriam Webster says that both plural forms are ok. The native speakers may overrule.
TinPenguin:
Personally, I'd feel inclined to slap anyone who kept saying 'automata'. At the end of the day, though, the 'correct' word is the one that conveys a meaning fluently from one person to another. Which both achieve.
pwhodges:
On the whole I prefer the native plurals to the original (e.g. forums, not fora). However, I instinctively say automata rather than automatons, and I imagine that even you say data rather than datums. That's leaving aside words in which some or all of the popular "plural" forms are actually completely wrong - like octopi (octopuses or octopodes) or virii (viruses - virus has no plural in Latin).
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