• @bastian_5
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    139 months ago

    I say it both ways. Data point with the a in dad, data set with the a in day.

  • @[email protected]
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    9 months ago

    If you’re in Star Trek it’s “data” but if you’re in Interstellar it’s “data”. Personally, I find that “data” sounds pretentious so I just use “data”.

    • teft
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      109 months ago

      Datum is singular. Data is plural. Data is an android.

    • @merc
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      9 months ago

      Data is like water, it’s a noncount noun.

      You say “how much”, not “how many”. E.g. “how much data is there in the database” not “how many data are there in the database?”

      You say “little” not “few”: e.g. “We don’t know, there is only a little data available” not “we don’t know, there are only a few data available”

      You say “all” not “each” or “every”: “All the data has been verified” not “Each of the data has been verified” or “Every datum / Every one of the data has been verified”

      And then there’s counting. Can you imagine someone saying “I have 80 data in my spreadsheet”? Or “I have 80 datums in my spreadsheet”?

      Maybe this is a recent evolution of the language, but I don’t know anybody who uses the count noun version of these. I don’t know anybody who uses the world “datum”. Instead, when someone is talking about one value, they might talk about a “piece of data”, which is similar to how you talk about other similar non-count nouns: “a piece of information” or “a piece of advice”.

  • @[email protected]
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    39 months ago

    Aren’t they just the american-english pronounciation and the british-english one, like “tomato” vs “tomato”?

    • The Picard ManeuverOP
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      49 months ago

      It’s possible that’s how they started out, but I can confirm that Americans use both, sometimes switching based on the sentence.

      • @[email protected]
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        09 months ago

        So, after a decade living in Britain, would that mean I now sound posh to American ears when talking about data or just sound wrong half the time? ;)

        • The Picard ManeuverOP
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          39 months ago

          Lol, Americans wouldn’t hear it as British, sadly. Anywhere you go, people use it interchangeably