Summoning Octopi

[Sadurian]

Looks like a fight between Mirriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary, which says:

Quote:

The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek and the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used. The plural form octopi, formed according to rules for some Latin plurals, is incorrect.

Mind you, as my accent is distinctly English, I am obviously biased towards the OED. You ex-colonials do have some funny ideas about how you use our language....

;)

[blahpers]

Sadurian wrote:

Sorry to be a nerd, but 'octopi' is not the plural of 'octopus'. It comes from the Greek rather than Latin, and the plural is technically 'octopodes', although 'octopuses' is also usually considered acceptable.

Had to get that off my chest.

Sorry.

Don't be a doofi. : D

[Bizbag]

Sadurian wrote:

Looks like a fight between Mirriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary, which says:

Quote:

The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek and the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used. The plural form octopi, formed according to rules for some Latin plurals, is incorrect.

Mind you, as my accent is distinctly English, I am obviously biased towards the OED. You ex-colonials do have some funny ideas about how you use our language....

;)

As long as your opinion of us isn't coloured too badly, I think we can treat one another with honour and respect. We can meet in the centre on issues. Nobody needs to take offence. We're all good at standardising our thoughts when we communicate well.

[Happler]

Bizbag wrote:

Sadurian wrote:

Sorry to be a nerd, but 'octopi' is not the plural of 'octopus'. It comes from the Greek rather than Latin, and the plural is technically 'octopodes', although 'octopuses' is also usually considered acceptable.

Had to get that off my chest.

Sorry.

Etymologically, you are correct. However, due to the use of Latin and pseudo-Latin for scientific naming, the pluralization "octopi" is now dictionary-valid.

So basically, enough people who were wrong repeated something until it became true. What a horrid precedent.

But a normal precedent for all growing, evolving languages. The true horrid precedent is the addition of "Twerk" to the dictionary.. :(

[Snorter]

Happler wrote:

But a normal precedent for all growing, evolving languages. The true horrid precedent is the addition of "Twerk" to the dictionary.. :(

That's because we've had contact with advanced civilisations.

[Snorter]

And, as for whether a shark can be an effective combatant out of water, I can only point to THIS.

[Chris Mortika]

Derail regarding the Oxford English Dictionary:

That's the wrong tool for the job.

Different dictionaries serve different audiences for different purposes. For example, the earliest dictionaries in English (inthe mid- to lae-1600s) were filled with words that fancy-pants upper society people knew, so that up-and-coming social climbers could use them correctly and not reveal themselves as ulcultured morons.

The OED is intended as a historical reference document. You use the OED to find out what the verb "use" meant to Shakespeare and Marlowe, or to Melville and Twain. You reference it to find out when the verb "case" first meant to study a location with an eye to subsequent burglary. In each case, the word is defined and the earliest context is provided.

When I was in college, the OED was 20 - 50 years behind current use, and that's fine, because that's not what it's for.

Don't get me started on the American Heritage.

[Bizbag]

Quote:

But a normal precedent for all growing, evolving languages. The true horrid precedent is the addition of "Twerk" to the dictionary.. :(

Actually I think language evolution is fascinating. I was trying to make a joke about the "if you're wrong, repeat yourself until you're right" bit, as it pertains to rules discussions on message boards...

I suppose the joke fell flat. Oh well.

[Sadurian]

Chris Mortika wrote:

That's the wrong tool for the job.

Derail about OED:

Far from it. The OED is considered the definitive guide to current as well as historical English. You cannot have a current language without knowing its historical roots, after all. The OED does contain historical words and meaning, but crucially, it also contains current ones.

The OED put new words into their dictionary for each new update, and remove many old ones no longer in use. For those in the UK, at least, it is the dictionary we turn to when we use the term 'dictionary definition'.

I appreciate that different countries use different grammar and spelling, hence the terms UK English and US English, but for UK English the OED is the authoritative source.

[Chris Mortika]

a continued derailment, much like spacing pennies at such precise intervals along train tracks, that a train moving at typical train speed along and bump over the pennies serves only to magnify the material's basic hamonics and buck the hapless speeding vehicle.:

Sadurian wrote: "and remove many old ones no longer in use".

Are you sure about that? The OED I'm looking at is reknown as the go-to source for archaic words.

Incidentally, my favorite dictionary, still being assembled is this one.