Minutia(e)?

Subject: Minutia(e)?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 09:00:21 -0400


Barbara Yanez reports: <<In biometric terminology, we speak of "minutiae" as
the points on the fingerprint image that the computer reads which allow it
to determine the identity of the individual... Strictly speaking, the
singular form is "minutia" and
the plural form is "minutiae.">>

Though that's true in Latin, you're presumably writing in English, and that
changes all the rules. My Webster's New Collegiate has the following to say
about "minutia": a minute or minor detail, usually used in the plural. As is
the case with data, prevailing usage has changed to accept the use of
minutia either as singular or plural, with the context hopefully making the
meaning clear.

<<... in the documentation of the industry leaders in the field (i.e., the
FBI and its associated sites) I see the form "minutia" used to refer to the
plural at least as often as the form "minutiae." ... even though Chicago
Manual of Style indicates that, "writers should not feel compelled to change
spellings that are accepted within an industry, though they may be
non-standard in general usage..." ... I made an administrative decision here
at Cogent to follow the convention of using "minutiae" for plural and
"minutia" for singular forms.>>

There's nothing inherently wrong with your choice, and it's doubly
appropriate given that your industry continues to make the same distinction
you do. But pay close attention to Chicago on this one. We editors should do
our humble best to maintain useful distinctions, but must also keep authors
in line with current usage--languages evolve, and when a distinction begins
to be widely ignored in your industry (to the point that you stop seeing
"minutiae"), it's time to go with the prevailing trends.

My favorite quote on this issue: "In words, as fashions, the same rule will
hold,//Alike fantastic if too new or old://Be not the first by whom the new
are tried,//Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."-Alexander Pope

<<Which lead to another dilemma. What if I am referring to a specific
minutia(e) point, or a minutia(e) marker? Should I use the singular form or
the plural form of "minutia(e)?... I checked Webster's unabridged
dictionary, and there it
states that "minutia(e) is only a noun - and not an adjective.>>

It seems to me that you don't have to use either "point" or "marker" in this
case. You'd simply write "this specific minutia" or "look for the following
minutiae as signs that the person is a technical writer". Although
dictionaries are great starting points for word usage, no dictionary can
truly claim to be comprehensive, though a few strive valiantly. Even if a
noun is not _commonly_ used as an adjective, English has a long tradition of
using nouns as adjectives. "I'm having another Geoff moment", for example.

<<when a noun-turned-adjective is modifying a noun in English, we generally
use the singular form.>>

That's not a universal rule; consider, for example, "data extrapolation".
<g> But snide comments aside, I'd agree you should go with the singular as a
general rule, because that's the most common pattern.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada

"When ideas fail, words come in very handy."--Goethe


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