Editing 1429: Data
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | "Kirk vs. Picard" is a debate that many ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' fans engage in — specifically which was a better captain of the {{w|Starship Enterprise|starship ''Enterprise''}} on the TV show. Captain {{w|James T. Kirk}} and {{w|Jean-Luc Picard}} each were captains of the ship in different periods (Kirk was captain of USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) in {{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series}}, while Picard was captain of USS ''Enterprise''-D (NCC-1701-D) in ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation}}''), but fans argue over who was the "best". Most third-place candidates are pretty distant, resulting in a more multi-faceted debate. | + | "Kirk vs. Picard" is a debate that many ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' fans engage in — specifically which was a better captain of the {{w|Starship Enterprise|starship ''Enterprise''}} on the TV show. Captain {{w|James T. Kirk}} and {{w|Jean-Luc Picard}} each were captains of the ship in different periods (Kirk was captain of USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) in {{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series}}, while Picard was captain of USS ''Enterprise''-D (NCC-1701-D) in ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation}}''), but fans argue over who was the "best". Most third-place candidates are pretty distant, resulting in a more multi-faceted debate. Cueball seems to be looking at results of polling for this ''third'' most popular character. |
The humor in this comic stems from the fact that the Latin word ''data'' is a plural form of the word ''datum'' ‘a piece of information’, and that originally English followed Latin's lead and treated ''data'' as plural. However, in more recent English, usage of ''datum'' has faded to the extent that [http://statistics.about.com/od/Glossary/a/What-Is-The-Plural-Of-Data.htm ''data'' is treated as a collective noun]. This usage is becoming increasingly (but not universally) accepted as grammatically correct — the ''Wall Street Journal'', for instance, recently announced that it is moving away from saying "data are," while the ''New York Times''' manual of style allows for both variants depending on usage scenario; ''USA Today'', however, is consistently using ''data'' as a plural ("data are"). Naturally, the purists insist on the form that is correct from the Latin grammar point of view and see "data is" as an example of a subject-verb agreement error. This type of "error" is present in the beginning of the sentence that Cueball is citing ("According to this polling data," while certain traditionalists would hold that the grammatically correct variant would be "According to these polling data"). | The humor in this comic stems from the fact that the Latin word ''data'' is a plural form of the word ''datum'' ‘a piece of information’, and that originally English followed Latin's lead and treated ''data'' as plural. However, in more recent English, usage of ''datum'' has faded to the extent that [http://statistics.about.com/od/Glossary/a/What-Is-The-Plural-Of-Data.htm ''data'' is treated as a collective noun]. This usage is becoming increasingly (but not universally) accepted as grammatically correct — the ''Wall Street Journal'', for instance, recently announced that it is moving away from saying "data are," while the ''New York Times''' manual of style allows for both variants depending on usage scenario; ''USA Today'', however, is consistently using ''data'' as a plural ("data are"). Naturally, the purists insist on the form that is correct from the Latin grammar point of view and see "data is" as an example of a subject-verb agreement error. This type of "error" is present in the beginning of the sentence that Cueball is citing ("According to this polling data," while certain traditionalists would hold that the grammatically correct variant would be "According to these polling data"). | ||
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*The letter ''h'' is a special case, since in words like ''honor'' (/ˈɒnəɹ/) and ''hour'' (/ˈaʊəɹ/) the ''h'' is silent so the words actually start with a vowel sound, thus leading to the use of ''an.'' | *The letter ''h'' is a special case, since in words like ''honor'' (/ˈɒnəɹ/) and ''hour'' (/ˈaʊəɹ/) the ''h'' is silent so the words actually start with a vowel sound, thus leading to the use of ''an.'' | ||
*Beyond this, there is a longstanding controversy over whether to use ''a'' or ''an'' with words that in some accents start with a silent ''h'' and in others they don't (see [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3328463#post3328463 Straightdope]). The [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/historical?q=historical Oxford Learner's Dictionary] says about ''historical'': Some speakers do not pronounce the ‘h’ at the beginning of '''historical''' and use ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ before it. This now sounds old-fashioned. | *Beyond this, there is a longstanding controversy over whether to use ''a'' or ''an'' with words that in some accents start with a silent ''h'' and in others they don't (see [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3328463#post3328463 Straightdope]). The [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/historical?q=historical Oxford Learner's Dictionary] says about ''historical'': Some speakers do not pronounce the ‘h’ at the beginning of '''historical''' and use ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ before it. This now sounds old-fashioned. | ||
| − | *In the title text | + | *In the title text Randall adds the word ''hypercorrection'' to the list that includes ''historical'' and ''history''. In this invented accent, the pronunciation would be "ypercorrection". |
| − | This comic complements two of the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobbies]] comics [[326: Effect an Effect]] (which discusses the trolling of amateur grammar Nazis) and [[1405: Meteor]] (which mocks pedantry). This comic could also just as well have been labelled as one of Randall's Hobbies. | + | This comic complements two of the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobbies]] comics [[326: Effect an Effect]] (which discusses the trolling of amateur grammar Nazis) and [[1405: Meteor]] (which mocks pedantry). This comic could also just as well have been labelled as one of [[Randall|Randall's]] Hobbies. |
This comic also appears to be an example of {{w|self-irony}} as the author himself has previously exhibited certain inclination to insist on grammatically strict mode of usage of words loaned from Latin. One such example is the fact that [http://fora.xkcd.com/ xkcd's online discussion forums] are called ''fora'', which is a correct plural nominative form of ''forum'' in Latin. | This comic also appears to be an example of {{w|self-irony}} as the author himself has previously exhibited certain inclination to insist on grammatically strict mode of usage of words loaned from Latin. One such example is the fact that [http://fora.xkcd.com/ xkcd's online discussion forums] are called ''fora'', which is a correct plural nominative form of ''forum'' in Latin. | ||
