The plural of octopus.

[baratron]

Killing myself laughing at the Merriam-Webster "Ask the Editor" feature on the plural of octopus (which I would link to, if I could find a way to do so). Apparently, if you say "octopuses" you are correct; if you say "octopi" you are sorta correct, but have no grounds for telling the people who say "octopuses" that they're wrong; and if you say "octopodes" (which the girl has pronounced most unlike the classical Greek that I was taught at school), you have to "be prepared to deliver this spiel at a moment's notice and in a British accent". Funnily enough, those are both things I specialise in... ;)

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

How about "octopodes"?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

That's my second-choice plural. After "octopuses."

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

In more modern greek with would be "octopodia" rather than "octopodi"

[mjl]

Unless I'm watching the wrong video, "octopodes" is what she refers to in the video rather than "octopodi".

The video link (at least the one I watched) is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFyY2mK8pxk

[wateryfowl.livejournal.com]

I know that "Octopi" is a Latin ending on a Greek word, but I don't think the Romans ever preserved native forms. So, then, if the English got it from Latin and not from Greek, it would be correct, wouldn't it?

Also, why haven't we just Englisified it yet to "Octopusses" or some nonsense like that. I mean, regardless what the Greek ending should be, or what the Latin ending was, the question we really need to focus on is what the hell do we use as the plural in English?. If we're going to import it from a language, how do be pick which one?

[rhialto.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, it always annoys me that in English the original Latin or Greek endings are dropped completely. I mean, Homeros would very likely not have responded if you called him "Homer". Similar with, say, Marcus Antonius.

[wateryfowl.livejournal.com]

I always feel that proper nouns should be kept "as is", save for transcriptions into other writing systems.

I think the logic is that German "Kassandra" and English "Cassandra" are more or less the same, just "adjusted" for the language, so it's okay. However, this simply changes it to reflect the pronunciation of the language, whereas in your example "Homeros" is entirely different from the Englishified form and there's no good reason an English speaker can't say it. I'm thinking that perhaps since English doesn't really have inflection, we just decided to use the stem.

"Marcus" is even more puzzling as that is an actual name...

So, while I feel common nouns should be adjusted and changed to the rules of the language, I feel proper nouns should retain forms that match the source language. (I guess for proper names from Latin we'd have to use the nominative form, and leave it at that, though.)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know that. I was just typing at... whatever o'clock it was. 4 am?

How embarrassing.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

The plural in English is "octopuses". Watch the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFyY2mK8pxk).

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was brain-dead.

[wateryfowl.livejournal.com]

I have been consistently told that it's not. Ever. "Octopuses" does seem to be in my spellcheck, though.

Then again, I know I had a fairly questionable education...

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Well, get hold of a copy of the Merriam-Webster dictionary and show it to the people who've told you that it's not, ever. See if they can argue with the dictionary.

[wateryfowl.livejournal.com]

You are ignorant in the way of ignorance.