Shrimp(s) and prawns

[Herb Stahlke]

You could really annoy them with "octopodes" pronounced with four syllables.

Herb

On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 2:47 PM, David Bowie <db.list at pmpkn.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Shrimp(s) and prawns
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From:    Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
>
> <snip>
>
>> 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.
>
> Some of us use 'octopi' as the plural specifically to annoy pedants.
>
> I would say :-) but i'm actually serious.
>
> (Similarly a lower-cased first-person singular pronoun--but that's a
> different issue.)
>
> I take it further, too--i have family friends by the last name Dutkus,
> and i call them collectively 'the Dutki' (which is actually handy,
> 'cause you don't have to worry about whether you're going on a visit to
> the Dutkuses, the Dutkusses, the Dutkus's, or so on). Not for circus or
> status, though--though i *may* have a zero-plural for status. Not sure
> on that last one, though.
>
> Of course, i'm also enamored with 'corpora' from 'corpus', so i'm
> considered switching those plurals to 'octopora' and 'Dutkora'.
>
> I would say :-) but i'm *almost* serious with that last bit.
>
> Maybe :-?
>
> <snip>
>
> --
> David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
>     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>
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