• megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 hour ago

    Octopodes, pronounced oc-top-o-dees, not oc-to-po-des. Like Hercules.

    Also, using the I ending to pluralize us endings comes out of an attempted prescriptive reform of English in the late 1800s to make it more like Latin. We still use es endings to pluralize us singulars most of the time, the places where we use I are ether direct usages of Latin words or remnants of that prescriptive push.

  • MithranArkanere@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Level 10: all forms are valid as long as enough people use them. The currently most used forms are octopuses and octopi, both valid, but octopi is malformed, so octopuses is preferred. Octopussses and octopii and rare variants of those. Also correct, but rarely used.
    Octopodes is also correct, but considered pedantic.

    Level 11: Just use what you are used to.

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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    21 hours ago

    One of my favorite things in life is using Latin or Greek plurals on words that it makes absolutely no sense to use them on, and do not follow the rules of any language naturally involved.

    I had steak and potati for dinner last night. Just one steak, though, I cannot eat multiple steakices

  • AeronMelon@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    American English: “All of the above are valid.”

    “Even ‘octopussies?’”

    American English: “…sure.”

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    It’s technically octopods

    This is true for the scientific sense that it’s order Octopoda (e.g. the plural for members of Hexapoda is “hexapods” and likewise “decapods” for Decapoda), but then it’s kind of like saying the plural for “lobster” is “nephropids”. The names are close for Octopoda and octopus, but it’s still taking the colloquial name and pluralizing it into its scientific name. It’s not specifically “to bring it in line with cephalopod”; that’s just how generic names of members of taxa ending in ‘poda’ work generally.

    Strictly speaking, “octopods” is the plural of “octopod”.