Re: Re: Indexes vs indices

Tom Lane wrote:
> [Dept of swatting flies with sledgehammers]
> I'd say that the use of "index" in database work clearly falls under
> sense 5b, and so "indexes" is the usual plural according to the OED.

As a volume of the OED is about the weight of a small sledgehammer, that
fly is one dead puppy (to mix my metaphors). Although, sense 4 is also
germane, as our index does serve to direct the query executor to the
appropriate tuples, and could be considered to be the directing
principle for performance enhancement <duck>......

But in reality, it doesn't matter. 'Indexes' is just fine. It's
certainly a better plural than 'Vaxen' was in its time; although I am
still inclined to use 'boxen' when referring to more than one computer.

--
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
Professor of English, Anchor Baptist Bible College --so I'm allowed to
play with the language.... :-)
1 Peter 4:11