Re: Adopting a plural

On Tue, Oct 05, 2004 at 10:57:56AM -0600, Muke Tever wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 09:35:44 -0700, H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...>
> wrote:
> >>d)  It means 2+, and is used on words that look like they come from the
> >>      other language (virii; octopi)
> >
> ><obligatory pedantic remark>
> >"Octopus" really came from Greek, not Latin, so the "proper" plural
> >would be "octopedes", not "octopi".
> ></obligatory pedantic remark>
>
> ObAntipedantry:
> That's why I made it an example under "words that _look like_ they come
> from the other language".  "Virus" doesn't take a plural in -ii either.
Yes I know. That's why I marked my comment as a pedantic remark. (Or
should that be "ultra-pedantic"?)

> The correct spelling is actually |octopodes|, btw.   |-ped-| is the Latin
> spelling ;)
[...]

Right, right, I was thinking about that, but didn't want to spend
another second to think about a completely useless pedantic remark.
:-) I guess I was transcribing how my Greek prof pronounced it
([Ak"tAp@di:s] - yes, it's Anglicized Greek. Talk about cross-language
chaos).


T

--
"I'm not childish; I'm just in touch with the child within!"