Date: Fri, 3 Feb 1995 08:50:28 EST

From: Larry Horn LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU

Subject: Re: ProcessEEZ



In response to David Johns' posting: I KNEW there were other [+affected]

plurals out there. (Or maybe we should just think of them as [+confused], as

in 'octopi'.) 'Biases' and 'premises' do indeed work just like

'processes', although there's a complication with 'premises' in that it can be

the plural of 'premise', as in a deductive chain or a collective noun, = a

building or other location (as in 'on the ____'). I suspect both can be pro-

nounced either way ('premisus' or 'premiseez'), but I'm not sure. As for

'biases', my hypothesee :) predicts that it can be 'biaseez' only for

the statistical or sociological sense (for a skewing based on prejudice or

inadequacy of the sample) and not, say, when it refers to diagonal lines or

swerves in bowls. I'm not particularly confident in this prediction.

--Larry