10.19.08
Data Arrrrgh
Over at the Editrix blog, I found some discussion about which is the better word choice: “The data is stored on a computer,” or “The data is stored in a computer.” Editrix sided with on, and posted a poll for readers—with a provocative third choice: “They’re both wrong. It should be ‘data ARE,’ damn it. ‘Data ARE!’”
I voted for on myself. The results? I was on the winning side in this poll, though now I’m being subjected to the election-year game of investigating voter registration fraud—because I registered surprise at the results:
Over 31 percent? Excuse me while I pry open my computer to try to count all data there. Oh, there’s a datum. And that particular datum tells me that, like such words as couple or trio, data can function as a group noun. “The couple is” emphasizes the group; “the couple are” emphasizes the individuals in the group. “The data is” emphasizes a body of information; “the data are” implies—to me at least—a collection of individual facts, perhaps not particularly connected.
I’ve babbled about this before, of course, but let’s now move on and get back to that group noun couple: datum sounds like an activity the couple is engaged in. “We’re not serious. We’re just datum.” (And I’m not serious, either.)
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Jenn said,
October 20, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Well, which one was correct? I’d have voted for “on”
Bill Brohaugh said,
October 20, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I’m not sure we can address the question as a matter of correctness, as both uses are in their way “true.” Technically, the data is/are/be/am in the computer–within the “walls” of the casing. But who says prepositions are always supposed to be used literally? That’s a question that I ask as I sit here before my computer (as opposed to after it), telling my wife that “I’m on the computer.” If I say I’m on medication, you don’t picture me sitting on a small pile of pill bottles. But you’d agree with me, anyway.
More pertinent is clarity and convention. Which sounds “right”?–in the sense of which is less distracting? In some parts of the country, we stand in line. In others, we stand on line (and not in the computer sense). Standing in line sounds right to me and those I speak with; storing data on the computer also sounds right.
SoupAddict Karen said,
October 20, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Where I work, data is not on, in or are the computer. We’re too cheap to buy, like, post-1990’s equipment with memory and storage space measured in Gigs (rather than KBs), so our data is inscribed on acorn shells by the squirrel running the wheel that keeps the network server powered up.
So, in my world, the grammar is clearly: “Data is on the nut.” And when the squirrel comes down with the flu and can’t work the wheel, we lose our data, where it is considered to be “off its nut.”
betsy said,
October 27, 2008 at 2:31 am
Is this the place to share a few others of this grammatical ilk?
Bill Brohaugh said,
October 27, 2008 at 7:46 am
Betsy, yes, please do feel free to share. The more in the conversation, the better.