Alumni-it’s plural!

[JessieMcJessie]

I’m getting so fed up seeing people described as “an alumni” of x institution. I think it particularly rankles when it is the academic institution itself getting it wrong.

It’s obviously come about because nobody does Latin any more but alumni programmes are on the increase as much easier to manage online than in days of old.

I’m part of an alumnae association that’s actually mixed sex - the person who set it up went to an all girls school so was obviously more used to that plural

OMG polkadots that would drive me crazy!

Out of curiosity, what's the singular?

Alumnus for men, alumna for women.

'an alum' is worse.
I did get someone telling me I'd described my old school association wrong, and it should be for alumni not alumnae. I took great pleasure in informing him it was an all-girl establishment and so the feminine version was correct...

Americans say “alum”. Strangely their new made-up word doesn’t annoy me as much as the misused plural.

Isn't alum a chemical compound?

I think that the chemical is pronounced AL-um, whereas the American term “alum” is “a-LUM”.

It’s described in one dictionary as the “clipped” form of alumnus/alumna and is quite a neat way of getting round the Latin gender problem.

"Alum" is not a made-up word as much as it is an abbreviation; helpfully one that, as the OP points out, can be used for either sex. And yes, it's a-LUM.

I graduated from a women's college that is part of a larger university in the US so I am a member of an alumnae association, as well as the larger alumni association.

I keep seeing “criteria” used as a singular noun.

One criterion, several criteria.

And breathe...

And phenomena.

I work at a University and I have given up decided that the word "alumni" has been completely absorbed into the English language and that is why it is not pronounced the Latin way.

This approach saves me from,

1. having my head explode when I hear it

and

1. sounding as though I don't know what I'm talking about when I refer to "alumnee cards".

Is ‘cherubs’ now acceptable? I always thought it was cherubim (like seraph/seraphim), but this Valentine’s Day I saw a couple of references to cherubs.

But Andylion my point wasn’t about pronounciation it was about whether it’s correct or not to say “she is an alumni of Exeter University”. Would you say that?

But Andylion my point wasn’t about pronounciation it was about whether it’s correct or not to say “she is an alumni of Exeter University”. Would you say that?

I would inwardly cringe, remind myself that most Canadians haven't taken any Latin, and that language is always evolving. (I'm in Canada. We had to switch to another district in order to find a school that offered Latin. There were six people in my sister's grade 12 Latin class. They had to take it over lunch.)

"I am an alumni". aghhhhhh (runs off screaming)

Is the correct answer! 😀