this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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Science Memes

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[โ€“] parzival@lemmy.org 2 points 3 months ago

I've always used either octopi or just octopus

[โ€“] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago (10 children)

Level 3 is the most correct.

[โ€“] LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Not really. Depending on the noun, the plural may be -us (called u-declination) instead of -i (called o-declination)

Example: modus is also modus in plural.

[โ€“] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Octopus is a word of Greek origin. Nothing to do with Latin rules.

[โ€“] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 3 months ago

Octopus is an English word so it is perfectly correct to pluralise it as octopuses. To use octopi is definitely wrong (it's the wrong foreign pluralisation), octopodes is using an uncommon foreign pluralisation so it's not wrong, just non standard

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[โ€“] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 3 months ago

You think we're using a Greek word not an English word?

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[โ€“] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 months ago

I cannot NOT read the title as Polysics singing โ€œCoelakanth is Androidโ€

[โ€“] webp@mander.xyz 2 points 3 months ago
[โ€“] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 3 months ago

โ€œQuadrilogyโ€ was such an all-out assault on etymology, semantics and reason that it just made sense when I learned that a CEO came up with it.

[โ€“] bedwyr@piefed.ca 2 points 3 months ago

Here I was calling the octopussies.

[โ€“] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago

Your prof is Roger Moore?

[โ€“] Ceruleum@lemmy.wtf 2 points 3 months ago

Confused Squidward noises.

[โ€“] lvxferre@mander.xyz 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Lv7: the legs [of]* two octopodum got tangled, so the octopodes asked help from two other octopodibus.

ENOUGH OF THE NOMINATIVE TYRANNY!

*it feels weird to use "of" with genitive, it's like saying *"the leg of a cat's".

They have more than 7 reproductive organs?

[โ€“] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 3 months ago

I actually love octopods. Somehow sounds the least weird of them all.

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