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I once proposed writing an article that used every possible variation on the plural, just to irritate the pedants
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Octopuses = descripitist plural Octopodes = prescriptivist plural Octopi = plural for stupid prescriptivists and wannabe pedants
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Ancient Greeks called them polypuses; octopus is an english word cobbled out of greek roots. Octopuses is the sensible descriptivist option. Octopi fails both the descriptivist and prescriptivist criteria.
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Alumni! Foci! Cacti!
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I thought that “octopuses” or “octopodes” was the plural, rather than “octopi”...
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This is my favorite
@MerriamWebster video!
(Hmm, syllabodes?) https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/octopus Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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Poster child for this, I suppose, would be Thou Shalt Not Split Infinitives. (In Latin, you can't, as it's only a single word; trying to explain why that should be a governing principle of English would be enough to seriously addle my brain.)
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I was taught to not split infinitives because adding words in the middle of the verb phrase makes sentences more complex. So I wonder if some of these old "Latin = correct" rules have something useful behind them.
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You don’t need a dictionary, just more focus...would that make it foci?
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