On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 15:24:21 -0500, Sam Ewalt wrote: > On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:50:05 +1000, Ron Clarke wrote:
>> I have also noted that F-Prot, which I use daily, will identify some >> attached virii immediately, and a very few not until the message has >> been opened and the attachments written to TEMP. > I know it's become a custom to refer to "virii" but the actual > and correct plural of "virus" in English is "viruses". > I just looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary. > Perhaps we can attribute the "virii" usage to the curious folkways > of the computer world. > Alternative viewpoints will be considered. Strictly speaking, "virus" is a very scientific term. It is the Linnaean taxonomical term derived from Latin and used for referring to a particular class of micro-organisms. In Latin "virii" would be the plural form. The scientific community has a fetish for conserving proper Latin constructs. If you were speaking with bio-medical scientists "virri" would be the most preferred and acceptable form of the plural. Computer "viruses" are so-called because they replicate themselves in a manner analogous to the organisms known to biological scientists as "virii". I have read in several sources that that the first computer virus was created and designed by a famous biological scientist as a demonstration project to show in an analogous manner how biological virii replicate. I read about these early experiments with computer viruses many years ago and I do not remember my sources. Sam Heywood -- This mail was written by user of The Arachne Browser: http://browser.arachne.cz/
