Plural of mouse (not the animal)

Rodrigo (COL)   Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:29 pm GMT
When talking about the computer accesory, which plural do you use, mouses or mice? Does anybody work at computer shop or handles this kind of equipment? Thanks for the answers, and please state where are you from to compare.
Guest   Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:32 pm GMT
"Mice" is standard in the IT world.
Skippy   Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:41 pm GMT
In general, most people would say "mouses" but probably correct themselves and say "mice."

That's what I tend to do everytime I have any reason to say "mouse" in the plural form.
Guest   Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:41 pm GMT
I've worked in IT since 1966, and I don't ever recall hearing the term "mouses" in the US. Of course, you didn't have computer mice until recently (1980s?).
Rodrigo (COL)   Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:31 am GMT
Thanks for your answers. I think the only reason I considered "mouses" as standard is because in Spanish when we use the English word mouse we always use the mouses plural. Thanks again for helping me avoid accepting anglicisms in my language as "correct".
Guest   Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:40 am GMT
<I say 'mouses'. I'm from Ottawa, Canada. >

Is that common use in Ottawa?
Travis   Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:08 pm GMT
One can use both "mouses" and "mice" for the plural of the pointing device known as a "mouse". I myself at least normally use "mouses", only infrequently using "mice" for such.
furrykef   Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:34 pm GMT
I, an Okahoman, always say "mice". I've heard of "mouses" before, but I rarely hear it.
M56   Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:14 am GMT
<One can use both "mouses" and "mice" for the plural of the pointing device known as a "mouse". >

You're in the minority there, Travis.

98,000 English pages for "PC mice".
548 English pages for "PC mouses".
Guest   Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:15 am GMT
<I also want to clarify that this is only for the computer device; I say 'mice' for the animal, just like everyone else. >

How odd.
M56   Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:20 am GMT
Googled:

412 English pages for ottawa mouses -mouse.
736,000 English pages for ottawa mice

We can guess that some of the latter, and maybe the former, refer to the animal. Still...
Guest   Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:23 pm GMT
I think part of the problem is it's not something that most people would say very often, you tend only to refer to one of them. For me both sound strange, 'mouses' because it's not the usual plural of 'mouse', but also 'mice', because for some reason I can only associate that with the animal.
Travis   Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:35 pm GMT
>>I think part of the problem is it's not something that most people would say very often, you tend only to refer to one of them. For me both sound strange, 'mouses' because it's not the usual plural of 'mouse', but also 'mice', because for some reason I can only associate that with the animal.<<

I likewise normally associate "mice" with the animal and do not associate it with the piece of computer hardware unless it is clear from context that it is meant to be the latter.
Milton   Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:31 pm GMT
in Brazilian Portuguese, the English (loan)word is used ''mouse'' (um mouse - a mouse), the plural is ''mouses'' (dois mouses - two mouses/mice). As for the animal, mouse is said Camundongo, rat is Rato...

so mouse/mouses it's correct in Brazilian Portuguese...
the same way bactéria/bactérias is correct (although bacteria is already a plural in latin, the singular is bacterium).
Rodrigo (COL)   Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:58 pm GMT
Thanks again for the answers, I didn't know it was that much disputed. I'm going to ask my British and American teachers to see what I can find because (at least it doesn't seem like) there are none to few answers from Britons.