RE: Plural of mouse

["Andrew Warren" <awarren -at- synaptics -dot- com>]

Carrie Baker wrote:

> Someone at work thinks that writing mice to refer to many mouse
> devices is wrong. (doesn't sound right)
> one writer here thinks that mice is the correct plural for computer
> mouse devices.
> The microsoft manual of style prefers to refer to mouse devices for
> the plural, which sounds logical to me
> 
> What do you consider correct use for the plural of computer mouse.

Carrie:

All the dictionaries I've seen prefer "mice", although many of them acknowledge that "mouses" is an alternative.  The Apple Style Guide says to avoid the plural if possible, but allows either "mice" or "mouse devices" if the plural must be used.

Google says:

    "mouse devices":    81,900
    "computer mouses": 204,000
    "computer mice":   624,000

I say "mice", as does everyone I know, but I can see the reasoning behind "mouses"... It's just like saying "oxen" or "geese" when you're talking about the animals, but "clumsy oxes" or "silly gooses" when you're referring to people.

-Andrew

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