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http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/data-is-singular

Okay - here was the most interesting part of my word jumble in the previous post. Go to the guy’s site if you want more:

Why would publications insist on such arbitrary and wrong-sounding usages? Blame Latin.

“Data” was originally the plural form of “datum,” which means “something given.” English speakers who use data as a plural noun, in constructions such as “these data” or “data are,” do so with conviction: they know intellectually that data is supposed to be plural, so they use it that way.

Yes, let’s. Following this logic, which I’ll call the Plurican Mandate – If the word is plural in its source language, then it must be plural in English. – the following sentences are correct:

(agendum, agenda)
* Let’s move on to the next agendum.
* The meeting’s agenda are long.

(graffito, graffiti)
* The boy was apprehended while spray-painting a graffito on the wall.
* Bathroom graffiti are particularly vulgar.

(forum, fora)
* This is the appropriate forum for this discussion.
* Due to a server problem, the fora are temporarily closed.

Obviously, I feel pretty strongly that blindly following the rules of the source language is ridiculous, or else I wouldn’t have written this interminable essay. But I’m not going to chastise individual writers for choosing the opposite tack. Different things sound right to different people. As long as no one is an a**hole about it, Pluricans and Singlecrats can still get along.....

End of quotes.

* The meeting’s agenda are long.

Bzzzzt! "Agendum" means literally, "It should be acted upon." It is used in English to mean, "a thing that should be acted upon." If we're interested in following the usage implications, your example should read, "The meeting's list of 'agenda' items is long."

Which doesn't sound particularly funny to me. No, I don't say the word "agendum," but I have a lot of meetings, and I do go around with the sense that "agenda" is, in its heart of hearts, a plural form.