![]() ![]() Some daring spirits with little Latin and less Greek, rushed upon octopi as for octopuses, a man would as soon think of swallowing one of the animals thus described as pronounce such a word at a respectable tea-table. An article from over 140 years ago, "Octopus Philology" (titled in the clickbait of that era) offers three possibilities, admittedly sneering at two of them:īut as the Octopus grew and multiplied, it became necessary to speak of him in the plural and here a whole host of difficulties arose. Such a range of options might prompt even the most patient learner of the language to say "what the hell? C'mon, English, get your act together." This state of affairs is not so much the fault of the English language as it is of the people who speak it, who have been debating the proper way to pluralize octopus for a very long time. ![]() The current champion in the Battle of Troublesome Pluralization is octopus, which, depending on which dictionary is consulted, may be written in three different ways: octopi, octopuses, and octopodes. Rule of thumb: if English gets the opportunity to trip you up, it will. ![]()
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