[CrackMonkey] Linux virora

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Nick Moffitt (nick at zork.net):

> Rick, your FAQ entry on the state of virora in Linux should be
> updated.

I think we need to call in LatinMonkey.

As a Latin noun, "virus" was 2nd declension neuter, right?  Meaning
slime, poison, venom.  (And it was a mass noun like "water", rather
than a countable noun like "droplet".)

Except, then, which way would it form plurals?  Some such nouns went
-us to -ora.  But then the vocative would be vire, and the accusative
viros -- but they aren't.  Alternatively, -us might go to -a, but then
the vocative would be virum, which it isn't.

So, I don't see that either form is supportable -- and that maybe this
word never had a Latin plural, because it was (as mentioned) a mass
noun.

_Or_, I might not have the faintest idea what I'm talking about, and
ought to stay the hell out of classical grammar.

-- 
Cheers,                             "Ceterum censeo Linux propaganda est."
Rick Moen                                        -- Seth David Schoen
rick at linuxmafia.com