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6 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

this thread has gone political talking about Brexit. I didnt think we were allowed that.

There is an alterworld where Brexit can be discussed but special powers are required....

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8 hours ago, mayalld said:

NO!!!

 

If you have a Referendum, then you have another Referendum, you have had two referendums.

 

Faux Latin plurals are a really naff thing.

So the list of things to be discussed at a meeting should be called the agendums?

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9 hours ago, mayalld said:

NO!!!

 

If you have a Referendum, then you have another Referendum, you have had two referendums.

 

Faux Latin plurals are a really naff thing.

Because there isn’t a plural gerund in Latin, the two different options for pluralisation have an actual impact on the meaning of the word itself.

 

If ‘referendum’ means ‘referral’, then ‘referendums’ – by its inherent definition – pluralises the actual act of voting, according to the Oxford English Dictionary anyway. Using ‘referendums’, therefore, implies having several ballots on a single issue.

 

The alternative – the attempt to pluralise a Latin word that can’t be pluralised, turning it into ‘referenda’ (just like ‘memoranda’) – implies the other option: the idea of having separate ‘referrals’, i.e. for separate measures.

 

So, going by the Oxford school: ‘referendums’ means separate votes on a single (or perhaps related) issues, while ‘referenda’ means votes on separate issues.

 

... which means in this instance Dave was correct for the wrong reasons.  The Irish had two referendums on the Lisbon Treaty, but we have recently had two referenda - Scottish Independence and Brexit.

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7 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

 

... which means in this instance Dave was correct for the wrong reasons.  The Irish had two referendums on the Lisbon Treaty, but we have recently had two referenda - Scottish Independence and Brexit.

No we haven't.

There was no Scottish independence referendum here. 

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