this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 81 points 2 months ago (5 children)

One of my favorite things in life is using Latin or Greek plurals on words that it makes absolutely no sense to use them on, and do not follow the rules of any language naturally involved.

I had steak and potati for dinner last night. Just one steak, though, I cannot eat multiple steakices

[–] dropcase@lemmy.world 46 points 2 months ago

Reminds me of a joke:

A Roman soldier walks into a bar and says, "I'll have a martinus"

Bartender says, "don't you mean a martini?"

The Roman says. "if I wanted more than one I would've asked for it!"

[–] lemmyartistforhire@lemmy.world 30 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I also do this! My personal top 3 are:

Jesus - Jesi

Bus - Bi

Penis - Penorum

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Penis - Penorum

WROOOOONG! Now write the full declension table on that wall. And make sure to draw some pictures with it, so you never forget the word! :-p

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

People called Romanes, they go, the house?!

[–] lemmyartistforhire@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's the genitive! Genitive! Which makes the plural.. um! Penum! Penum! Romanorum penum amplitudines non magni sunt!

c===3, c===3, c===3.

Poetry was made today.

[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have a wealthy friend who has a penorium in their house.

[–] lemmyartistforhire@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Do you happen to have a picture? Asking for a friend.

[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

Unfortunately the last time I was invited I got kicked out. Got a little too excited.

Also they don't allow phones, so I couldn't take a picture.

[–] HamsterRage@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For decades now, my wife and I have used "Kleeni" as the plural of "Kleenex".

[–] Tortellinius@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Kleenex is Kneenes according to the rules of Latin, actually

[–] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But the plural of index is indices in Latin, so shouldn't the plural of Kleenex under those rules be Kleenices?

[–] Tortellinius@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's hard to tell because the deviating form in Latin is actually the nominative singular, which is why vocab lists include the genitive singular as well. All other forms have the same stem aside from Nom. Sg. A few examples are:

senex - senēs (elder)

rēx - rēgēs (king)

index - indīcēs (index)

So really anything could work as long as it ends on -ēs in plural and starts with kleen-.

[–] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Well, Latin really is weird but it allows for quite some fun stuff then!

So really anything could work as long as it ends on -ēs in plural and starts with kleen-.

Let's try this:

Kleenussies is valid, then?

[–] Tortellinius@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Haha! It would be unconventional to use a double s in any form aside from the s-perfect, which is the time form of a verb, the superlative forms of adjective, or beyond the first two syllables. After a bit of research an accurate word would be either a g, k, or a c (all formed in approx. the same area of the mouth as x) instead of the x followed by the -ēs. Trying to pronounce Kleenex with an i before the g, k or c sounds less like Kleenex than index sounds similar to indices. The transition from a vibrating sound like the n to an i also feels unnatural at that part of a word, normally it comes after a t or a d sound. Also the name itself stems from the verb "to clean" and the latin suffix -ex. If it suggests something like a "cleaning king" the resulting word could therefore be Kleenegēs, but Kleenecēs is not off the table.

However, my initial suggestion is inaccurate. The senex-style plural (Kleenēs) is a special case of which it ism't resolved why senex drops its -x entirely on flexation.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Looks like you beat us to level 7

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 2 points 2 months ago

I can eat all the steak ices.