this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] BoosBeau@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Call 'em whatever you like, they're all octobussies to me.

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 1 points 1 month ago

Flip that Bee and I'm onboard.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 1 month ago

β€œQuadrilogy” was such an all-out assault on etymology, semantics and reason that it just made sense when I learned that a CEO came up with it.

[–] webp@mander.xyz 2 points 1 month ago
[–] bedwyr@piefed.ca 2 points 1 month ago

Here I was calling the octopussies.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

I cannot NOT read the title as Polysics singing β€œCoelakanth is Android”

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (10 children)

Level 3 is the most correct.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 1 month ago

You think we're using a Greek word not an English word?

[–] LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not really. Depending on the noun, the plural may be -us (called u-declination) instead of -i (called o-declination)

Example: modus is also modus in plural.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Octopus is a word of Greek origin. Nothing to do with Latin rules.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 1 month ago

Octopus is an English word so it is perfectly correct to pluralise it as octopuses. To use octopi is definitely wrong (it's the wrong foreign pluralisation), octopodes is using an uncommon foreign pluralisation so it's not wrong, just non standard

[–] LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah that part is correct but the first part of the sentence of level 3 is not :)

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[–] parzival@lemmy.org 2 points 1 month ago

I've always used either octopi or just octopus

[–] megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Octopodes, pronounced oc-top-o-dees, not oc-to-po-des. Like Hercules.

Also, using the I ending to pluralize us endings comes out of an attempted prescriptive reform of English in the late 1800s to make it more like Latin. We still use es endings to pluralize us singulars most of the time, the places where we use I are ether direct usages of Latin words or remnants of that prescriptive push.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Ceruleum@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 month ago

Confused Squidward noises.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Lv7: the legs [of]* two octopodum got tangled, so the octopodes asked help from two other octopodibus.

ENOUGH OF THE NOMINATIVE TYRANNY!

*it feels weird to use "of" with genitive, it's like saying *"the leg of a cat's".

They have more than 7 reproductive organs?

I always say 'I saw some octopus'

Also, moose is plural for moose.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago

I actually love octopods. Somehow sounds the least weird of them all.

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