What is the plural form of mouse when referring to the computer mouse? Mouses? Mice?
I have used 'mouses' to distinguish these from the rodent plural, mice.
I nearly said living creatures, thanks to my experience of the last several hours.
(I am an old fashioned dinosaur who prefers to use a desktop computer rather than a laptop.
Last week I was attending an online seminar, for which I borrowed my husband's laptop, as my old desktop is not equipped with either a camera or a microphone. I parked the laptop on my desk, and tried to log into the seminar using my desktop's mouse! Fortunately better sense prevailed, and I managed to attend the seminar without having to call on the spouse for help, and being thoroughly laughed at in the process.)
Last night I sat down at my computer, to shut it down for the night, after the inevitable final browsing session. All of a sudden, the cursor refused to move. I picked up the mouse, turned it upside down, switched it off and on. The light would flicker and go off. Since I am relatively organised, I knew where the new batteries were kept, and brought a fresh set to my desk. But no. Changing the batteries didn't help. I reluctantly forced a shutdown of the system, replaced the new batteries with the old ones once again, and put the new ones back in their depository. I told the spouse that we would have to buy a new mouse.
This morning I switched on the system, tried the mouse, hoping that a good night's sleep had energized it, and that rebooting the computer might, just might, render it functional once again.
Nyet. There was something I urgently wanted to access on my computer. I remembered that when my old keyboard had died on me and was replaced, I had kept the keyboard and mouse carefully in a cupboard. I brought out the old mouse, loaded it with a fresh battery, and, to my great delight, it worked! I logged on to the site I wanted, and then out of sheer perversity, perhaps, tried using the mouse that had died on me. And, of course, just to mess with my brain and make me walk up and down the length of the house putting back the other keyboard and mouse and batteries, it actually worked. Was it jealous? Did it think itself indispensable? It's been working ever since. Can anyone explain????
I have used 'mouses' to distinguish these from the rodent plural, mice.
I nearly said living creatures, thanks to my experience of the last several hours.
(I am an old fashioned dinosaur who prefers to use a desktop computer rather than a laptop.
Last week I was attending an online seminar, for which I borrowed my husband's laptop, as my old desktop is not equipped with either a camera or a microphone. I parked the laptop on my desk, and tried to log into the seminar using my desktop's mouse! Fortunately better sense prevailed, and I managed to attend the seminar without having to call on the spouse for help, and being thoroughly laughed at in the process.)
Last night I sat down at my computer, to shut it down for the night, after the inevitable final browsing session. All of a sudden, the cursor refused to move. I picked up the mouse, turned it upside down, switched it off and on. The light would flicker and go off. Since I am relatively organised, I knew where the new batteries were kept, and brought a fresh set to my desk. But no. Changing the batteries didn't help. I reluctantly forced a shutdown of the system, replaced the new batteries with the old ones once again, and put the new ones back in their depository. I told the spouse that we would have to buy a new mouse.
This morning I switched on the system, tried the mouse, hoping that a good night's sleep had energized it, and that rebooting the computer might, just might, render it functional once again.
Nyet. There was something I urgently wanted to access on my computer. I remembered that when my old keyboard had died on me and was replaced, I had kept the keyboard and mouse carefully in a cupboard. I brought out the old mouse, loaded it with a fresh battery, and, to my great delight, it worked! I logged on to the site I wanted, and then out of sheer perversity, perhaps, tried using the mouse that had died on me. And, of course, just to mess with my brain and make me walk up and down the length of the house putting back the other keyboard and mouse and batteries, it actually worked. Was it jealous? Did it think itself indispensable? It's been working ever since. Can anyone explain????
