Talk:viral

This "story" needs to be trimmed down to a def please. &mdash; Hippietrail 14:19, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

viral
In marketing sense. --Connel MacKenzie 09:00, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

The definition seems right, but it is not a noun. More like an adjective as in viral marketing, which I have just created a page for.--Dmol 09:46, 10 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Google pulls up 933,000 hits for "virals", and of the first ten hits, nine are in this sense, so I'd say it's pretty prevalent as a noun. Also, a b.g.c. search for  pulls up 65 results (http://books.google.com/books?q=%22virals%22+-%22anti-virals%22+-%22antiretro-virals%22+-%22anti-retro-virals%22), and while I'm not sure this sense is the one used in the majority of them, it's certainly used in enough to pass CFI with room to spare. —RuakhTALK 16:51, 10 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Is this really a noun, though, or an adjective being used as shorthand for an unstated noun? (e.g. "I can't decide whether I want skinny noodles or a thick noodles, so I'll take half a pound of skinnies and half a pound of thicks.") bd2412 T 07:45, 11 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Would you really say it that way? I&#39;d say, "[&hellip;] half a pound of the skinny and half a pound of the thick." BTW, if substantive adjectives actually have plural forms for some speakers, then we need to add plural-form support to . —RuakhTALK 23:44, 11 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't say it that way, but not everyone follows my lead! ;-) In any event, saying "half a pound of the skinny and half a pound of the thick" is still using the adjective in place of the unstated noun. I'll have half a pound of the viral, please. bd2412 T 18:46, 12 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, but I made a point of searching for the plural form. Substantive adjectives, like attributive adjectives, are invariable in English; when you elide the noun, its plural marker goes with it (hence "half a pound of the skinny", not ?"half a pound of the skinnies"). When you see what looks like the plural of an English adjective, it's because the adjective has actually developed a noun sense. —RuakhTALK 19:24, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Second definiton in relation to a virus
I was wondering...do these "virals" get their name from the way they spread, do they actually contain computer viruses?


 * Viral videos get their name from the way they spread. It does not mean that they contain a virus. —Stephen 18:14, 22 May 2009 (UTC)