DATA DATUM

How many times do you hear the mistake about this word “data”? Do you realise it is so often used incorrectly? Does it matter? In my Chambers dictionary it states “data” as a plural noun, “commonly but still erroneously” used in the singular. 

You hear it all the time, on TV, in Parliament, in people’s everyday usage: “the data is …” they say. Even my Microsoft spellchecker does not correct it! The singular is datum. It is a word borrowed from the Latin, and correct English preserves the Latin plural which is data – plural, please note!

Most people do not confuse “bacteria” with a bacterium or “equilibria” with an equilibrium, “curricula” with a curriculum, “gymnasia” with a gymnasium, “ova” with an ovum, “strata” with a stratum, “stadia” with a stadium, “optima” with an optimum, or any of the other dozens of examples. No, we use the singulars and plurals correctly. 

So, yes, I do think it matters. It matters in correct communication to avoid confusion of the reader or audience in the same way that other common English mistakes these days matter; shockers now so prevalent such as “sat” instead of “sitting”, “stood” instead of “standing”, “less” instead of “fewer”, “your” when it should be “you’re”, “it’s” when it should be “its”, and so on and so forth. Drives me and many I know nuts. Come on schools, teach the kids grammar!

In a more serious vein, Betts Ecology spend much time gathering, recording and interpreting biological data collected in the field. These data are vital for our understanding of the consequences of our habitat management work, as exemplified by the graphic at the start of this piece. They allow us to compare, measure, adjust, support and communicate what we do over time, towards the protection and enhancement of our precious biodiversity in what, so alarmingly, has become one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth.

© Betts Ecology