this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

All English words that don't have a specific pluralization (eg mouse, mice) can be pluralized with either an s or an es. It's also a Latin and Greek root, so it can be pluralized as you did, in the Latin way, or the Greek way (Thesauroi), or alternatively with the s/es ending, all of which are correct!

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Unlike "octopi". ๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ

[โ€“] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nope! Octopuses, octopuses, and octopi are all correct afaik

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Wrong, sorry. Oktรณpus is a Greek word that translates to โ€œeight foot,โ€ and pluralizing it via Latin has no etymological basis. "Acceptable/widely used" is in no way synonymous to "correct", let's not forget.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not who you're responding to but I must vehemently disagree. In English, which doesn't have a centralized governing body, the correct way of pronouncing/spelling something depends on your intention and expected audience. If your intended audience is English speakers then the correct spelling is probably octopi or octopuses, whichever you believe will cause the least confusion/distraction (surely it varies regionally).

However, usually my intention is to portray my unfathomably superior knowledge and intellect, so the correct spelling/pronunciation in this case is: octopodes (which I think he had listed but ironically got 'corrected' to 'octopuses').

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Modulating one's speech according to audience is not dialectic morphology, much less general etymology โ€” it's a matter of scope.

You can use whatever you want, no argument there. Whether or not it comes off sounding semi-literate is more up to your audience and your own self-awareness than any "centralized governing body", citizen. ๐Ÿ™‡๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿซฃ

[โ€“] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"As with many modern scientific creature-names, it was coined in Modern Latin from Greek elements, so it might be allowed to partake of Latin grammar in forming the plural"

Literally from the link you provided. It was coined initially in the language of modern latin, from Greek roots, certainly, but the word objectively and literally comes from modern latin.