View Full Version : Forums or Fora?
This has been bugging me. My Latin O level knowledge is rusty, but it's good enough to know that it should be Fora.
On behalf of all pedants, can I ask for a change of name?
E. Cosgrove
23-05-2008, 10:47
Ugh, I did Latin O level...........I failed[msnsad][msnembarrased]
andrewandcarole
23-05-2008, 16:55
I just about managed a pass but my memory isn't as good as yours Tonish!
Katys Grandad
23-05-2008, 17:18
If that's been bugging you have you considered getting out a bit more?[msnwink][msnwink]
Perhaps a holiday in Florida would help!
Lesley and John
23-05-2008, 20:54
I decided to type the question into Goggle (plural of forum). There is lots of debate about it. I think I need to get out more too. :D
Consensus seems to be Fora
John
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
23-05-2008, 21:22
Nice idea but most people will search on the word "forums" and if we change it to the more correct "fora" we'd potentially be losing visitors as I suspect hardly anyone would search using the "fora" word [msnwink].
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Tonish
On behalf of all pedants, can I ask for a change of name?
[/quote]
florida4sun
23-05-2008, 22:08
And of course there is the new latin 4rum 4ra [msnwink]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
Nice idea but most people will search on the word "forums" and if we change it to the more correct "fora" we'd potentially be losing visitors as I suspect hardly anyone would search using the "fora" word [msnwink].
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Tonish
On behalf of all pedants, can I ask for a change of name?
[/quote]
[/quote]
SunLover
23-05-2008, 22:50
:D
Well, it looks like I'm pretty much on my own. Maybe I do need to get out a bit more....
It's no good! I can't stand it, couldn't just leave it at that. I've been looking at this site most days now for a few years and every time I open it up "forums" hits me in the eye. I think I've done admirably by refraining to mention it until now. I shall now be taking my fight to many of the other fora I am a member of and requesting the same change of them. It's not just OV who have it wrong, it's all the others too. My work has only just begun.
On a mission eh? [msnwink]
Try typing "fora" into a Word doc.....
If the Great God of ALL Things; Bill (Gates) doesn't understand "fora"
What chance for us poor mortals ????
Question: If 'forum' becomes 'fora'
should 'bum' become 'ba' ......
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:msmiff Posted - 28 May 2008 : 11:20:09
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Try typing "fora" into a Word doc.....
If the Great God of ALL Things; Bill (Gates) doesn't understand "fora"
What chance for us poor mortals ????
Question: If 'forum' becomes 'fora'
should 'bum' become 'ba' ...... [/quote]
Interesting point - Bill Gates clearly hasn't had a classical education, which is possibly why he's no longer No 1 in the rich list.
Couldn't speak for the plural of bum, it not having a direct Latin derivation, but interestingly, it has probably come from Latin via German (also a Latin based language).
It is a word which has, unusually, multiple meanings both as a noun (as in buttocks etc; tramp, as in you are a bum, or as a "devotee", biker bum etc); a verb with multiple meanings (to bum around, to bum a lift, or even to be "bummed" out about something); and adjective (a bum note, for example).
Probably comes from the German (and probably, therefore with Latin roots) verb "bummeln" which means to stroll about aimlessly
Yes, I really am that sad.
eagleydo
30-05-2008, 00:25
Forum is fine, lets not get bogged down with being pernickety, there is far more interesting things to make an issue out of
jolliffee
30-05-2008, 01:49
I remember this topic on one of the first forums (or is it fora) I was on.... in 1978[msneek]
glasgowmary
30-05-2008, 02:44
wow , I thought my husband was fussy [msnwink]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:jolliffee Posted - 29 May 2008 : 21:49:36
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I remember this topic on one of the first forums (or is it fora) I was on.... in 1978 [/quote]
1978???
I was doing my Latin O level then and the internet was a long way away. What on earth kind of forum was it?
Mind you, good to see the important questions are always topical, regardless of the passing years.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Tonish
This has been bugging me. My Latin O level knowledge is rusty, but it's good enough to know that it should be Fora.
On behalf of all pedants, can I ask for a change of name?
[/quote]Tonish if this were a Latin fora then you would undoubtedly be correct. However this is an English forum. English has always ‘borrowed’ from other languages. Unlike Latin it is a living language and as such it develops and changes today just as it has always done. That for me is its beauty.
Old words slip out of favour, use and dictionaries and new ones emerge. Today’s youth culture has had a huge influence on this with words such as ‘wicked’ being given entirely new meaning. Long may it last as it makes life and language so much more interesting.
Mmm maybe I should get out more too, Florida perhaps?! [msnwink] :D :D :D
Definitely fora, The old Latin 'o' level training is hard to forget.
Amo, amas, amat and all that!!
Wow short term memory may be shot be long term seems okay still.
florida4sun
31-05-2008, 05:08
So we change the OV forums to OV fora? Commercial suicide would follow[msncry]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Solana
Definitely fora, The old Latin 'o' level training is hard to forget.
Amo, amas, amat and all that!!
Wow short term memory may be shot be long term seems okay still.
[/quote]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:florida4sun Posted - 31 May 2008 : 01:08:47
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So we change the OV forums to OV fora? Commercial suicide would follow
[/quote]
Ah but the pleasure, Martin, of going down knowing you did the right thing. You could be the frontline crusader, the chief cheerleader for all those who will not put up with the falling standards of our modern lives.
Difficult long term choices for the right reasons; future benefit...where have I heard that before?