Re: [Ridiculously OT] Virii (sic)

Riley Williams
2001-08-02T07:33:21Z

Hi David.

>> plural of virus is virii. Since the whole idea of a computer
>> virus comes from the medical world, I'd have to assume the
>> terminology came with it.
>>
>> I'll stick with what my training taught me.

> As an ex-virologist, English usage has its plural as viruses
> almost everywhere, even in books written in "U.S." English.
> Even in medical virology texts in the aforesaid language.

{Shrug} Blame my training on the medical staff at Aberdeen Royal
Infirmiry, Scotland, where I did the 18 months of medical training
that I have behind me before switching to Computing...

> Not that Caesar ever spoke at length concerning viruses, but
> viral taxonomies usually refer to viruses of a kind with a
> collective noun ending with thus:-
>
> papillomaviridae - wart viruses
> herpesviridae - herpesviruses
> retroviridae - retroviruses
>
> Here's an example of both the plural "viruses" and the
> collective ending being used...
>
> http://www.utoronto.ca/virology/bio351/papova/Papova.html
>
> Indeed, if you should search Google for the terms "viruses" and
> "virii", the former will find mostly biological/medical pages
> while the latter while the latter finds almost exclusively
> descriptions of computer "virii" which may be indicative of the
> orgin of the latter.
>
> I look forward to computer virus taxonomies discussing
> Sircamidae and no doubt Code Red could be classified as member
> of phylum Annelidae with Linnean name Tabes whitehouseii.

>> PS: Plural of bacteria is bacterium, from the same source.

> You did mean it the other way round, didn't you?

I did, yes - blame that on a brain failure...mine!

> D. Huen, Dept. of Genetics, U. of Cambridge

Best wishes from Riley.