Wordless Wednesday ~ Octopods

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Wednesday 09 April, 2014 by Uncle Spike

Here’s a shot of a bunch of Octopuses on the Greek island of Astypalea. Now, who thinks it should be ‘Octopi’, and says ‘Octopuses’? I was confused too, so I looked it up. This is what I found out 🙂

Octopuses or Octopi?  (credit: Oceanic Research Group)

“Many people get confused about the proper plural for the word octopus. Octopus is frequently given a Latin plural, yet the word derives its second root from Greek, not Latin (the english “foot” root from Latin is “pod” or “ped”, while from Greek it is “pus”). What is the proper plural, anyway? Many say “octopi.” The singular looks like a Latin masculine singular, ending in “us,” but it really isn’t, so pluralizing it to “octopi” is not correct. Most people also mispronounce it as well. If it were “octopi,” it would be pronounced “octo-pee” not “octo-pie,” and that sounds silly! So, the correct plural is “octopuses,” believe it or not. I prefer not to use either of them. Every time you say “octopuses” someone will correct you, and you end up in an argument. So I like to use “octopods,” which is the proper plural of the taxonomic order Octopoda, containing the eight-armed cephalopods.”