41 Strange

Why is it octopuses and not octopi?

As the Grammarist explains, octopi "has no etymological basis." It only exists due to a modern fallacy that octopus comes from Latin. Its actual origin is the Greek word oktopous, which literally means "eight-footed."

The -us in octopus is thus a relic of the Greek pous for "foot," not the second-declension masculine Latin ending whose plural form is -i. That means the correct plural is octopodes, but as the Online Etymological Dictionary adds, "octopuses probably works better in English."

I need to know my word origins better, especially if my dream of being on Jeopardy! has any chance in hell of happening.

Kurt Eichenwald approves

Know what else is cool about this tweet? It made me look up the plural of 'octopus'. EDUCATION.

wait, shit, that came out wrong, the plural of 'octopus' isn't 'education'

Darn. I already incorporated it into my doctoral thesis

That's okay as long as you cite me as a source.

@Viejo_Cthulhu es absolutamente necesario que se encuentre en todos lados?

Cc/ @drolerie2017