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<a href='http://www.plime.com/redir.p?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ8E5B83ilw' class='plime' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><b>flash video</b></a>

Is octopodes the correct plural? Do you say vizslak* instead of vizslas? Why does English language import the plurals from foreign languages when it has a completely good method of making plural from singular. Sometimes it even replaces completely adequate English words with foreign words for some obscure reason like political correctness.

*the link connects to a "vizsla for sale" site.

I have parvo!!!

There are three forms of the plural of octopus; namely, octopuses, octopi, and octopodes. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objected to.

The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that octōpūs is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is (Latinized) Greek, from oktṓpous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktṓpodes (ὀκτώποδες). If the word were native to Latin, it would be octōpēs ('eight-foot') and the plural octōpedes, analogous to centipedes and mīllipedes, as the plural form of pēs ('foot') is pedes. In modern, informal Greek, it is called khtapdi (χταπόδι), gender neuter, with plural form khtapdia (χταπόδια).

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary and the Compact Oxford Dictionary list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).

Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.

The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.

Woof woof!

parvo, aka 5th disease, aka erythema infectiosum



don't put me down!!!

*sits*

Humm, sorry, any references to parvo that I've ever heard has referred to this..

Oi!

Less of that, you. Cheek of it.

To sum it up correctly, octopodes is correct in terms of etymology, but as often happens the language has evolved and the mean usage of octopuses has replaced octopodes, making it archaic.

Octopi is wrong and has never been anything but.

And Skandar, in answer to your original question the reason is that English a mongrel language.

Over the years, Britain has been occupied by a list of invading forces as long as your arm and each left their mark on the language. One legacy of this is that many words retain patterns of behaviour that are adopted from the original language of the invaders rather than having been clumsily forced into fitting existing rules.

The way language behaves is determined by those who use it, hence why octopuses has taken over, for one example, and why there is a diversification between words like colour and color, aluminium, aluminum, etc. in different English speaking countries for a couple of others.

And this is just one of the many reasons why more people don't speak Esperanto.

This is for Bornbad...

That and the fact that that the first moon landing was in '69. but noooo you had to be durty:0)

Bornbad has a special interest in in the moon landings and I thought he'd appreciate the irony of the votes/moon landing date connection. What's dirty about that? :D

/lying bulls**t

No one upvote this anymore. It's good for now. :D

Hey, you're just trying to stop me getting upvotes under the guise of humour! lol *joke*

Seriously, woot for 69!

Just wanted to let everyone know that this Friday I'm heading up to Kissimee for a family get together, and I'll be there for 4 days. I'm gonna be absent, but I might pop in here and there, so be good while I'm gone, keep Plime safe for me! :)

The main theme song for 28 Weeks Later is incessantly running through my head. Just those four repeating notes.

Just wondering because it's my bf's surname.
Apparently it's of Scottish origin, not common here and it's sometimes used as a slang term for p3nis (and 'langers' is slang for drunk usually in the Co. Cork area)

Well, I am not one of them.

Oh, that's just great. They're a tall family, so they're a bunch of long Langs... (tee hee!)

I was told that it's of German origin.

..Most seem to think it's Chinese.

Wer ficken will, muss freundlich sein. :D