I love the operating system analogy. I think Iāll start thinking of my brain as a very specialised Arch Linux installation. Not broken, justā¦ very different.
Pedant alert!
Phenomena is plural, phenomenon (as should be the case here) is singular.
Come on now, we all know that there was no such thing as autism until we started vaccinating children.
It starts as different.
Thanks to the society, it can end up as broken.
It might also be an instance of the English languageās clumsy handling of aggregates. The term āAustism spectrumā seems to be used more as an aggregate of related symptoms, rather than an actual continuum of any kind. Much grammatical waffling seems to occur over whether to refer to individuals-in-aggregate as singular or plural.
Unfortunately, if you donāt have the proper support in place. 
I obviously know nothing about you personally, but I think there is a reason many here self select as Mutants 
And I am not a Linux distro, Iām more of a 16 bit cooperatively multitasking OS. Perhaps Windows 3.1.1, cause I know how to do basic networking, and Iām usually part of a Workgroup.
Doesnāt a Boing BBS membership count as a domain?
Isnāt it more of a fiefdom? (Damnit, now I have to write a networking protocol with the concept of fiefdomsā¦ Or could I just fork token ring?)
Then the sentence should read;
We argue over whether this is these are a diagnostic or epidemic phenomena
Isnāt it called a subnet?
That would be plural. Might point was that standard English lacks an aggregate form - it is neither singular nor plural.
Whether it is neither singular nor plural, the word āphenomenaā is plural and should then be used in conjunction with ātheseā rather than āthisā regardless of whichever subject one is addressing.
Iām a zeppelin!
What were we talking about?
You already explained as much, which I think is besides the point. When your language lacks a proper way to describe something, the other options will still be inaccurate. This relates to usage of not only this particular word, but also the many other instances when writers seem unable to decide whether aggregates should be referred to as singular or plural, when something is - properly speaking - neither.
No, it was exactly the point. āThisā is singular, āTheseā is plural. āPhenomenonā is singular and āPhenomenaā is plural. To be used as intended. Iām not arguing the semantics of aggregates, Iām pointing out the grammatical error, which is in fact, an error.
With respect, I realise that you like to be obtuse and argumentative (and entertaining and informative), but you canāt always be right, and should occasionally admit when you are wrong instead of wriggling around trying to fit your square argument into a round hole.
This is all getting way too off-topic now, so Iāll step back.
You can have the last word if you like, but beware of dragons.
Which you have now done for the third time, when I understood you the first.
I was simply making an observation, since it is something I have noticed about the language. Other than that, it really hasnāt anything to do with me.
Anyway, to bring the topic back on track - you can dismiss it as being symptomatic of my autism. XD
As can you dismiss my pedanticism for the same reason.
