Shrimp(s) and prawns

[Mark Mandel]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
> I would call "octopi" acceptable since so many people use it, but it's an
> etymologically unsound hypercorrection. "Octopus" is Greek and we shouldn't
> be slapping a Latin inflection on a Greek word after it has been borrowed
> into English.

Etymologically unsound, to be sure, but hypercorrection? *Do* we have
a term for the misapplication of a foreign inflection to a loan word?
Cf "stati" for plural of "status", though different in detail.
  http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/2.18/glib-IO-Channels.html#GIOStatus

m a m

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