Data "Are/IS" Corrupt?

[Suidae]

Which statement is correct?

The data is corrupt.

The data are corrupt.

[axion_sa]

The data is corrupt

[parksie]

Are.

Data is the plural of datum

[Suidae]

Originally posted by parksie
Are.

Data is the plural of datum

Ah... but isn't data considered a collective noun?

[parksie]

Usually, yeah.

But for technical things I believe data is taken as plural.

[DiGiTaIErRoR]

From dictionary.com

Usage Note: The word data is the plural of Latin datum, “something given,” but it is not always treated as a plural noun in English. The plural usage is still common, as this headline from the New York Times attests: “Data Are Elusive on the Homeless.” Sometimes scientists think of data as plural, as in These data do not support the conclusions. But more often scientists and researchers think of data as a singular mass entity like information, and most people now follow this in general usage. Sixty percent of the Usage Panel accepts the use of data with a singular verb and pronoun in the sentence Once the data is in, we can begin to analyze it. A still larger number, 77 percent, accepts the sentence We have very little data on the efficacy of such programs, where the quantifier very little, which is not used with similar plural nouns such as facts and results, implies that data here is indeed singular.

[Jim Brown]

It's the same with team... one team consists of many players and the team itself is singular but often referred to as plural, as in "The team are playing well today Brian".

English are a funny language.

[parksie]

[Jim Brown]

... but ***.

I was on a Unix admin course years ago with a colleague. Our course notes told us that files may be 'cruft'... but didn't elaborate. Well I thought, ***, in Unix you get 'grep' and 'yacc' so why not 'cruft'. So I asked teacher what a 'cruft' file was and she looked at me blankly. Then she looked in the notes and said "Ah, it's a typo! It should say 'crupt'"

So I thought, Ok, yacc, grep, why not 'crupt' rather than 'cruft', so I asked what a 'crupt' file was. She said "You know, damaged. Crupt."

She meant 'corrupt' of course but in her clipped Afrikaans accent it came out 'crupt'.

Ever since then, in our shop when something's busted, it's known as 'cruft'.

[parksie]

"Cruft" usually means something that tends to accumulate over years and isn't very useful, like on a Unix system, lots of lost+found, core, etc., files.

[Suidae]

This thread stems from a message is one of our programs. That reads.

"Data is Not Available Based Upon Your Search Criteria"

One of the user's actually complained about the message and wanted it changed to...

"Data are Not Available Based Upon Your Search Criteria"

We changed the message to..

"No Data be Available, Guess Again Holmes"

It's a good thing the boss has a good sense of humor... he saw it and just about fell out of his chair laughing.

[JPicasso]

This question has come up several time with me and my wife....
I"m a computer kinda guy and she is a stats kinda girl....\

anyway, seems that the more you lean toward business and
statistics data become(s) more plural as in "the data are showing",
and, "we have one datum to base assumptions on" ...
as you lean toward engineering and science people, data
become(s) more singular as in "the data is corrupt" or
"one data point after all that time? you suck"

glad this bugs somebody else.