this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
584 points (99.0% liked)

Science Memes

13918 readers
874 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
584
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago (7 children)

*octopodes (yes I know octopuses is also correct but the technically correct version sounds cooler)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I kinda love how this only works if you know the correct pronunciation. For those that don't, it's ock-top-uh-deez

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

I use all forms of octopi interchangeably just to piss off "linguists".

Edit:linguists -> "linguists"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Linguists are probably the least likely people to get upset at someone using the "wrong" word. they might pull out their notebook and start asking you questions though

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I feel like any linguist upset by non-prescriptive language needs to maybe reconsider their life choices. Imagine telling someone they're painting incorrectly or being mad at the discovery of a new species.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week 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 "linguists" that you would see trying to correct people for using the wrong form of then/than where it was really not appropriate.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Octopi, octopuses, and octopods are all valid pluralizations of octopus in American English.

Conversely, cacti is the only valid pluralization of cactus.

Don’t worry, language itself pissed us off long before you did.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Dont you dare use a Latin pluralization of a Greek root word!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Its origin is Greek, but it comes to us through Latin, so fuck it. Plus it’s language, and octopi is understood by fluent speakers

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

You want 8 pies? What?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'll use whatever pluralodes I feel like!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wow, look at all these plurapodes

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

There's lodes of them!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Depends on the language. Current standardized American English overwhelmingly list adds -s/-es to make a plural noun. So β€œoctopuses” would be technically correct with β€œoctopodes” and β€œoctopi” also accepted.

If you’re writing Latin, you’d want octopi instead. If you’re writing Greek: octopodes.

But English is a democratic language, so feel free to vote often and early by using your preferred version.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

To be pedantic, octopi comes from the misconception that octopus is a second-declension noun in Latin when it's actually a third-declension noun. If you were writing Latin, you'd still want octopodes

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

at this point i feel the only sensible answer is to use the most nonsensical form that still sounds normal

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Octothingies is my favorite

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Only Japanese ones