Mäuse - mice ( translation glossary) Plural for computer terms,Computers: Hardware,Tech/Engineering

« Stellrichtung

Return to KudoZ list

Ansatz - und Bewert... »

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	Mäuse
English translation:	mice
Entered by:	Narasimhan Raghavan

Options:
- Contribute to this entry

1:18pm Feb 11, 2004

German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Computers: Hardware / Plural for computer terms

German term or phrase: Mäuse

I feel really stupid asking. I would like to know whether the plural of mouse used in connection with computers is "mice" or "mouses". I prefer the latter. Kindly confirm. This is urgently required in a translation to be delivered very fast.
Thanks,
N.Raghavan

Narasimhan Raghavan

KudoZ activity
Questions: 26 (all closed)
Answers: 1302

India

Clarification request(s) and response

tectranslate: 1:31pm Feb 11, 2004: The market leaders say mice:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/innovation/ergonomics.mspx
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/CA/index.cfm?page=products... -

mice

Explanation:
In university translation classes (2003) we have been taught that it is "mice" for real mice, but "mouses" for computer input devices.

However, if you use an English edition of Windows and look into the hardware/device manager, it says "mice".

So basically it doesn't matter, but I'd use "mice" to keep up good usage of English :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2004-02-11 13:27:14 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Having read the link provided by Elvira, I have to admit that I checked on a UK edition of Windows 2000, not on a US one. Could anybody who has got a U.S. windows tell us what it says there?

Selected response from:

Tobias Ernst
Germany

Note from asker to answerer

I am now convinced. Thanks for the trouble taken.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +8

mice

Tobias Ernst

4 +2

mouse devices (if not, then mouses, but they are all accepted)

Elvira Stoianov

4 +1

I'd always say "mice"

John Bowden

3 +2

mice

vhz

Answers

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +8

mice

Explanation:
In university translation classes (2003) we have been taught that it is "mice" for real mice, but "mouses" for computer input devices.

However, if you use an English edition of Windows and look into the hardware/device manager, it says "mice".

So basically it doesn't matter, but I'd use "mice" to keep up good usage of English :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2004-02-11 13:27:14 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Having read the link provided by Elvira, I have to admit that I checked on a UK edition of Windows 2000, not on a US one. Could anybody who has got a U.S. windows tell us what it says there?

Tobias Ernst
Germany
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 4

Note from asker to answerer

I am now convinced. Thanks for the trouble taken.

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

mouse devices (if not, then mouses, but they are all accepted)

Explanation:
my thought, also confirmed by the link (small debate on this issue)

I think mouse devices avoids the issue

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2004-02-11 13:25:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.1/aid.42530/column.htm

One more link with a short debate, in favour of mouses

Invented in 1964 by Douglas Engelbart, the mouse remains the most common computer navigational device. If you want to see copy editors at their best (er, worst?), poll them on the plural of mouse. Most avoid it as if it were a diseased rodent. … While some favor continuing the mousy metaphor into the plural with ‘mice,’ … others argue that the computer appendage is distinguished from the animal and should follow the most common method of pluralization (adding –s or es) … just as louse become louses when it defines a group of cranky editors. Put us among the louses; we prefer mouses.”

Reference: http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxmouses.html

Elvira Stoianov
Luxembourg
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Romanian,

Hungarian
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

silvia glatzhofer

4 mins

agree

Tobias Ernst: Mouse devices is of course a good way to evade the problem, But be careful - it might not fit in all contexts ("our shop offers a wide variety of mouse devices" might sound strange.

6 mins

disagree

tectranslate: Tatsächlich ist mice sehr verbreitet, schau z.B. mal bei Logitech oder MS nach cordless mice. Wenn Du die Problematik vermeiden willst, dann nicht mit mouse devices, denn mouse ist immer ein Gerät, sondern mit pointing devices -beinhaltet aber Trackballs.

6 mins

neutral

Treebo: Sounds kinda stiff to me.

28 mins

neutral

xxxCMJ_Trans: mouses ??? !!!!! in ENGLISH ????

34 mins

-> there are 155,000 hits on Google for mouses, most of them related to computers

neutral

astauber: I talked to a linguistics professor about that once and he said that both are "correct"

1 hr

agree

John Bowden: It does seem "mouses" is possible - but half the 155,000 google hits are in languages other than English...

1 hr

neutral

Aniello Scognamiglio: good idea, however it can be misleading as mentioned by tectransDE.

2 hrs

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

mice

Explanation:
I prefer computer mice, but it's a matter of taste

vhz
Spain

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

I'd always say "mice"

Explanation:
If google hits are anything to go by - and they're not indallible by any means - there are

7440 hits for "computer mouses" and

61,900 hits for "computer mice"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2004-02-11 15:14:09 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

PC World, one of the largest retailers in the UK, uses \"mice\":

www.pcworld.co.uk/ - 91k

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2004-02-11 15:16:48 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

There\'s a heated discussion on the plural at:

http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.1/aid.42530/column.htm

John Bowden
United Kingdom
Native speaker of:

English

Return to KudoZ list

German: Mäuse

English translation: mice