I didn't consult the OED. I feel sad for you that you felt the need to do so.
LiterateDog Send a noteboard - 02/06/2010 12:58:12 AM
You know as well as I do how the word is used by people in the United States, even by the fully educated. Minutia, in this country among English speakers, is generally understood to describe small details in the plural.
Again, as I said to Damookster, a pedant who wants to stick to the true Latin version is probably correct. But as I also said, if you don't use the proper word for every "foreign" plural, then you shouldn't really say anything. Do you really say "stadia" and "podia"?
The American English version, as stated by M-W:
Main Entry: mi·nu·tia
Pronunciation: \m?-?nü-sh(?-)?, m?-, -?nyü-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural mi·nu·ti·ae \-sh?-??, -??\
Etymology: Latin minutiae trifles, details, from plural of minutia smallness, from minutus
Date: 1782
: a minute or minor detail —usually used in plural
Again, as I said to Damookster, a pedant who wants to stick to the true Latin version is probably correct. But as I also said, if you don't use the proper word for every "foreign" plural, then you shouldn't really say anything. Do you really say "stadia" and "podia"?
The American English version, as stated by M-W:
Main Entry: mi·nu·tia
Pronunciation: \m?-?nü-sh(?-)?, m?-, -?nyü-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural mi·nu·ti·ae \-sh?-??, -??\
Etymology: Latin minutiae trifles, details, from plural of minutia smallness, from minutus
Date: 1782
: a minute or minor detail —usually used in plural
"I'll blow whomever I want, whenever I want, as long as I can still breathe and kneel."
-Samantha Jones, SatC
-Samantha Jones, SatC
Excruciatingly painful minutia of my life
- 02/06/2010 12:00:19 AM
624 Views
It's "minutiae" - otherwise it's in the singular. *NM*
- 02/06/2010 12:36:54 AM
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Not really. The English usage/spelling of the word is minutia.
- 02/06/2010 12:44:06 AM
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~pulls up a lawn chair with cold drinks and popcorn and settles in~ *NM*
- 02/06/2010 12:47:15 AM
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LOL
- 02/06/2010 12:52:44 AM
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I'd say "stadia" and "podia" if for some reason I were inclined to make those words plural.
- 02/06/2010 05:00:53 AM
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I didn't say that they were the same usage rules.
- 02/06/2010 06:18:53 AM
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Don't people have both gender (social construct) and sex (biological fact)? *NM*
- 02/06/2010 11:25:36 PM
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No, people do not have a gender.
- 03/06/2010 12:16:18 AM
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The OED doesn't give any example of "minutia" being used as plural. *NM*
- 02/06/2010 12:53:23 AM
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I didn't consult the OED. I feel sad for you that you felt the need to do so.
- 02/06/2010 12:58:12 AM
541 Views
I think the point is that most people use "minutiae" and never use the singular.
- 02/06/2010 01:02:22 AM
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Of course it has more entries.
- 02/06/2010 01:12:31 AM
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let me see if I've got this....
- 02/06/2010 01:23:55 AM
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You won't be laughing when I release that licking sex picture to the mediums!
- 02/06/2010 01:27:39 AM
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What will the mediums do? Commune with the ghost of Buddy Holly to get his opinion? *NM*
- 02/06/2010 01:43:35 AM
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No, the Big Bopper. You know it's him when he says "Hello, baby!" *NM*
- 02/06/2010 05:16:57 AM
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Pronunciation in Latin
- 02/06/2010 03:15:10 AM
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I'm a classics student. Consulting dictionaries is beyond habit and approaching compulsion.
- 02/06/2010 02:08:45 AM
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A sex addiction would be much more pleasurable compulsion, y'know.
- 02/06/2010 02:32:51 AM
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The two aren't mutually exclusive, just kinky. *NM*
- 02/06/2010 04:09:50 AM
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I think you should use the OED to find out the definition of kinky.
- 02/06/2010 04:25:32 AM
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You don't think a dictionary fetish is kinky? Buddy, I don't think I'm the one needing the OED. 
*NM*
- 02/06/2010 05:20:55 AM
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*NM*
- 02/06/2010 05:20:55 AM
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Bitch, that ain't kinky. It's just....odd. *NM*
- 02/06/2010 06:28:25 AM
139 Views
Re: I'm a classics student. Consulting dictionaries is beyond habit and approaching compulsion.
- 02/06/2010 04:58:28 AM
342 Views
It may surprise you to learn that not all of my friends are classics students. 
- 02/06/2010 05:21:24 AM
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- 02/06/2010 05:21:24 AM
310 Views
The other thing is that people don't know how to pronounce the difference between the two.
- 02/06/2010 03:12:10 AM
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