The plural of "mouse"

Question

Is it true that the plural of the noun "mouse", in its technical (computer science) meaning, is not "mice" but "mouses"? Thank you for your answers.

Miriam · Accepted Answer

Hello, Jack-in-the-box

I've read that somewhere, it seems to be true. I'm sorry I can't remember where I found it.

Miriam

Haoqide · Answer

This is one of the few areas where I just don't care which is correct.  Saying "mouses" just sounds stupid to me, regardless of whether or not it's correct.

MountainHiker · Answer

Hey Jack-in-the-box,

When you are faced with problems like the one you mention, use your goodfriend, Google.

"computer mouses" - 8,680 hits
"computer mice" - 237,000 hits

It looks like they are about even, lol. Let me see "computer mice" is used about 27 times as often as "computer mouses". If it were me, I'd go with "computer mice".

You could easily do a search "computer mice" and then you'd find interesting articles like these:

[url="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mouse.htm"]How Computer Mice Work[/url],
[url="http://peripherals.about.com/cs/miceandkeyboards/tp/aatpmice.htm"]Top 7 Computer Mice[/url]
[url="http://www.cooltechzone.com/reviews/peripherals/newsstory_001.php"]Microsoft launches three colorful computer mice[/url]
[url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3131453.stm"]Computer mice make new moves[/url] (this article is from the BBC news)

The list goes on and on.

Google is a very powerful too for seeing if something (word, phrase, or sentence) is in commonplace usage. As Migo stated earlier, just because something is popular in Google doesn't necessarily imply that it is correct. However, if you see sources like the BBC and other well known and regarded publications using the same (word, phrase, or sentence), then you should have some comfort.

Hope this helps.

Jack-in-the-box · Answer

Thanks. I agree with you, and I prefer "computer mice": they are mice, aren't they?

I have asked this question because in my English-Italian dictionary (Hazon, Garzanti) I had read that the plural of "mouse" in the technical sense is "mouses"!

In internet I've also found this:

http://www.hum.vxu.se/publ/gtn/news04_1.html

MountainHiker · Answer

Jack-in-the-box,

While some might use "mouses", most people use computer mice, including PC Magazine, a very prominent English speaking computer magazine.

So I'd simply go with computer mice. If someone challenges you on this issue and claims you are wrong to use "computer mice", simply ask why PC Mag (one of the "Bibles" of all things computer related) uses "computer mice" and why "computer mice" is a much more popular term than "computer mouses" according to a Google search?

Checkmate, you win.

Here's a [url="http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,15141,00.asp"]PC Mag article on computer mice[/url]: . You can either use the hyperlink or you can cut and paste. You might even want to save this article and link in case you need to defend your position.

I suspect you can use either "computer mouses" or "computer mice", but most of us use "computer mice". I would not rely on your dictionary in this particular instance.

Hope that helps.

HalfManHalfBiscuit · Answer

Great question this...............
We can look at etymologically similar words, such as house, louse, and scouse. Pluralising these words we have houses, lice, and Liverpudlians. So as usual with the english language (or should that be English language?) we can draw few parallels between similar looking words. Perhaps we could consider collective nouns to illuminate this area a little more.

For instance the collective noun for house is street, for louse it is infestation and for scouse it is a Kop. A group of organic mice is called a click, believe it or not, I kid you not. So that seems to imply that a computer mouse is pluralised as mice.

However, I prefer to refer to them in the plural as pointing devices!!!

Guest · Answer

Off topic but, halfmanhalfbiscuit, boy I loved that band!

Now on to the question.

think that in practice both are used, most people probably do use 'mice' and as language needs to be a flexible medium, usage should come before 'rules'.

however, I once read an article about this that said that, according to the rules, mouses is the correct version. the argument goes like this:

'Mice' used in this way is just a metaphor, as they are grey blobs with a 'tail', but they are not literal mice.

Metaphors do not take the irregular forms of the plural. The best examples come from people's names so,

A family with the surname 'Woodman' are not acutally wood workers and so are collectively referred to as 'The Woodmans' not the Woodmen. Only a group of people who literally chop up wood would be called the woodmen.

A family with the surname 'Rothschild' are not actually all young people so become the Rothschilds, not the Rothschildren.

A family of Mr and Mrs Mouse, plus baby Mouse, are still human beings not really mice. so their name is the Mouses not the Mice.

does this make sense to everyone?

But, like I said, both are accepted in relation to computer mouses/mice, for no real reason than it does seem to sound more natural here.

Pokersitehost · Answer

I would like to say THANKS to the person who clarified the meaning Mouses or mice....

I tend to kill my mice on my pc at work and have a collection of 6 assorted mice now lol.

The site I work for which will remain nameless has a lobby chat and I tell my players alot about these mice. Anyway we had a HUGE discussion with regards to this and I lost the argument. so THANKS a bunch.....

lol only joking thanks for helping clear up what could of been a HUGE discussion for Weeks..

Thanks again..

Kelly

Anonymous · Answer

0hi02br
02br
00how about "mouse devices"? neither "mouses" nor "mice" sound quite right 0-

The plural of "mouse"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions