Talk:viral

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

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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 "virals" -"anti-virals" -"antiretro-virals" -"anti-retro-virals" 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. —Ruakh_TALK 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'd say, "[…] 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 {{en-adj}}. —Ruakh_TALK 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. —Ruakh_TALK 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)