From a reader who is, natch, a federal employee: “Dear Derb—’Maximums’?

Is that right? Not ‘maxima’?”

The Ombudsman:

The plural of the English word “maximum” is “maximums.” The plural of the

Latin word “maximum” is “maxima.”

How can you tell if the Latin word or the English one is in play? If it’s

the Latin word, it ought to be initalics, like any other foreign word.

Since my usage was not in italics, “maximums” is correct.

And please don’t get me started on “data.”

(BTW — this is regular Derb; I have set down my Ombuds-baton — In

early-modern math texts, data were “the things given,” while “the things

sought” were quaesita. “Data” came into English (where it is neither

singular not plural, but aggregative, like “rice,” “grass,” or “sand”).

“Quaesita,” however, did not. Why not? We have to fall back on phrases

like “the unknown quantities.” Just a thought.)