"Forum" and the Plurality Thereof

[Xillania]

In the English language, it is common to use the term "forums" as plural for "forum". However, the word is a direct import from the Latin, where the plural term is "fora".

It is not the only term in question. People are split between formulas and formulae and between atriums and atria. Some, like datum/data remain true to their Latin roots, but I would not be surprised to see "datums" appearing eventually (that is, if more people used the word in the first place.)

So to this guild of most literate Gaians, I submit the following question: do you use forums or fora?

I use fora, because I like the Latin, and because forum is a Latin word. To deviate too much from its origin would only harshen the disconnect between the average learner of English and the origins of the language.  

[[Joan De Arc]]

Forums for me, although typing in fora is a lot faster...  

[The Man who was Thursday]

Forums. Some words maintain their Latin declensions (at least the distinction betwixt nominative singular and plural), some don't -- the only difference I can find is common usage. In the interest of not wasting time explaining what I meant, I use forums.

"Datums" will never show up, since some people erroneously use data for singular and plural.  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

Ezra Pound

Forums. Some words maintain their Latin declensions (at least the distinction betwixt nominative singular and plural), some don't -- the only difference I can find is common usage. In the interest of not wasting time explaining what I meant, I use forums.

"Datums" will never show up, since some people erroneously use data for singular and plural.

I agree. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "datum" outside of discussion about plurals of Latin words.

I usually say "forums" to avoid confusing my friends.

This reminds me of a chemistry lesson I had. The teacher wrote "aquaria" on the board, and quite a lot of people in the class had no idea what he meant by "aquaria", so he had to explain that "aquarium" is a Latin word and therefore becomes "aquaria" in plural form. That teacher did Latin when he was at school, and he expected everyone to know some Latin, so he wasn't very happy about that. The trouble was that most of my classmates had enough trouble understanding him even if he didn't use these words, but that's a different story on its own.