Octopi, octopuses, and octopods are all valid pluralizations of octopus in American English.
Conversely, cacti is the only valid pluralization of cactus.
Donât worry, language itself pissed us off long before you did.
Comment on đđđ
monarch@lemm.ee â¨2⊠â¨months⊠agoI use all forms of octopi interchangeably just to piss off linguists.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world â¨2⊠â¨months⊠ago
murtaza64@programming.dev â¨2⊠â¨months⊠ago
Linguists are probably the least likely people to get upset at someone using the âwrongâ word. they might pull out their notebook and start asking you questions though
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de â¨2⊠â¨months⊠ago
octopiussi
stray@pawb.social â¨2⊠â¨months⊠ago
I feel like any linguist upset by non-prescriptive language needs to maybe reconsider their life choices. Imagine telling someone theyâre painting incorrectly or being mad at the discovery of a new species.
monarch@lemm.ee â¨2⊠â¨months⊠ago
I meant to put the linguist at the end in quotes my bad on that. I was trying to refer to the self styled reddit âlinguistsâ that you would see trying to correct people for using the wrong form of then/than where it was really not appropriate.