[extropy-chat] When biology and english clash

[The Avantguardian]

--- Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:

> 
> >*what* precisely is a bacteria?
> 
> I know it's tiresome of me to mention this, but "a
> bacteria" is a 
> grammatical error, that's what it is. The singular
> word everyone in 
> this thread is looking for is "bacterium".

If the English qualify as a people- debatable I know
;) - then E. coli qualify as a bacteria. Especially
since a bacterium usually refers to an individual as
opposed to a population, a group, or a type.
Incidently an individual virus is called a virion. A
virus generally refers to a type of virion. And
multiple types of virions/virus are referred to as
viruses. 

 



Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"More persons, on the whole, are humbugged by believing in nothing, than by believing too much."

- P. T. Barnum

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