I often see mouses instead of mice when referring to computer devices.
Is this correct?
technically I think mouses is correct…I still call them mice. I also call more than one moose meese, and more than one box boxen.
ohh, right, XY-PIDSes…I should’ve known that…
I have two mouse style pointing devices attached to my computer and one trackball style pointing device. By using tortured writing you can avoid the need to make a decision on what the correct plural form of mouse is. Just word your writing and speaking to avoid the use of the plural completely.
Or for more Learned Discussion on this topic and a bit of a cat fight, you could go here and scan through the thread, starting about 4 up from the bottom of the page.
Oh, well linked sir.
That little thread exchange is destined to be a classic, but I do disagree with JJuggle on that one. In my experience the people who use the term “mouses” tend not be be native English speakers. The tech industry is full of people working here in the US who do not speak English as their first language. Just because some tech people may use the term “mouses” for the plural of “mouse” does not mean that it should be proper usage.
I use “mice” as the plural, as it should be.
However, trackballs rule. I use a Logitech TrackMan Marble Wheel as my primary pointing device. The mouse only gets used for games and drawing.
Now for the real controversy. Is it OK to use the term “mouse balls” to describe the ball under the old style mouse devices? Sounds rather crude.
Getting a bit prescriptive there John.
Shouldn’t actual usage be the final arbiter of ‘proper’ usage rather than some set of outdated rules written down in a dusty book perched on top of Miss Aylery’s bookshelf?
Linguists are hard pressed to explain why ‘OX’ pluralises as ‘OXEN’ while ‘BOX’ goes to ‘BOXES’. It makes no sense, it just is, and it’s considered ‘proper’ usage. So if ‘we’ come up with an alternative pluralisation for mouse to prevent confusion between peripheral computer devices and Apodemus sylvaticus, then I think we are not only well within our rights, but also within the realms of proper usage/linguistic development.
Language is for the people.
In my many years in a technological environment I have never once seen use of the word “mouses”. It would be a totally unutterable usage. I suppose though, we have to thank the Americans for not suggesting it should be “moses”.
And now for Hard Disk vs Compact Disc…
t’should be “rats”
or “cursors”
I think that’s because American spellings and terms became normal in technical language, hence the common use of “disk”, “program”, “trash bin” etc when talking about computers, even in the UK. The compact disc was pioneered by Philips, a European company (Dutch I believe) and they used the English spelling. Philips registered the “Compact Disc” logo as a trademark, thus it’s spelt that way wherever it’s used, even in America.
As for more than one mouse, I call them mice. But I have seen it suggested in a few places that the plural is mouses - just sounds so ridiculous though.
Rob
Yeah, a bit like ‘blice’.
What about hice?
Sounds like a sneeze.
Sounds like a sneeze.
There is an old, not terribly funny but relevant joke, about the delivery of some animals to a zoo.
The delivery label states: Enclosed in this box is the mongoose your zoo ordered. Enclosed in the second box is the other mongoose your zoo ordered.
I think I have only ever heard them referred to as mice. The device gets its name because it looks like a mouse, the animal. So what’s the problem with calling many of them mice?
My backgroud is working with marketing materials and articles from high tech companies, and involves making edits and corrections to technical articles like the ones found here:
http://www.intel.com/technology/magazine/
The computer industry is filled with made-up words. Often these are compound words made by sticking two smaller words together. Such as the Buffalo TeraStation (a device I hope to acquire), a “terabyte station” for holding lots of data on your network.
Putting capital letters in the middle of words like that is where I got the idea for the capital “U” in MUni.
Anyway, the English language is full of inconsistencies and weird stuff. Look at the plural of “goose” for example:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=goose 
Plus, I can’t abide (computer) mice, with their wires that always tug and their need for too much desk space. I use a Logitech TrackMan (note use of compounded word) Wheel.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2150,CONTENTID=5002
It doesn’t need to be cordless, because it never has to move! It doesn’t look like a mouse, it looks like a partial bug head.