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Author Topic: Damn Albatrosses  (Read 4618 times)

GhostDwemer

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2012, 10:44:26 am »

It's like the plural of fungus. One albatross, several albatrii.
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Naryar

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2012, 10:45:54 am »

Amusingly, in marine legend it is bad luck to down an albatross. And guess what happened to your fort ?

SRD

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2012, 10:46:24 am »

THEY WENT BERSERK TRYING TO THINK OF THE PLURAL OF ALBATROSS DURRRR
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rtg593

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2012, 10:51:53 am »

Amusingly, in marine legend it is bad luck to down an albatross. And guess what happened to your fort ?

Better yet, they were good luck...

Until someone killed one :D
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Sadrice

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2012, 01:07:42 pm »

Only pluralize with -i for latin second declension masculine words.  Meaning octopi and platypi are wrong, and will cause me to dislike you.
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Mrhappyface

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #20 on: April 03, 2012, 01:30:02 pm »

Amusingly, in marine legend it is bad luck to down an albatross. And guess what happened to your fort ?

Better yet, they were good luck...

Until someone killed one :D
Stupid marksdwarves.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #21 on: April 03, 2012, 01:33:27 pm »

Only pluralize with -i for latin second declension masculine words.  Meaning octopi and platypi are wrong, and will cause me to dislike you.

Servus
Lupus
Octopus

?

Sadrice

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #22 on: April 03, 2012, 02:53:58 pm »

Except octopus is latinized greek, and is third declension neuter, and the proper plural is octopodes.  Except, of course, neither the romans nor the greeks ever used that word, it's an english word, and should be pluralized as octopuses.
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Corai

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2012, 02:56:16 pm »

DAMN DERAILINGS.
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khearn

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2012, 02:58:42 pm »

This must be the fasted derail i have ever seen.
derailed on first reply.

I'm not 100% sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if I have managed to derail some of my own threads in my initial posting. I tend to ramble off on tangents sometimes.

Like that time I... oh, nevermind.
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daggaz

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2012, 03:26:16 pm »

Except octopus is latinized greek, and is third declension neuter, and the proper plural is octopodes.  Except, of course, neither the romans nor the greeks ever used that word, it's an english word, and should be pluralized as octopuses.

Except that no matter how right you are, the heady push of the masses always defeats les règles de la linguistique, and thus you, and octupuses, are wrong.  Even more so as octopuses sounds like a naughty word in common modern English.  It's octopi.  Deal with it.  I mean, seriously.. its fucking English, the language of exceptions.  Implying that it must suddenly follow an extremely obscure grammatical rule from a dead language for the mere sake of compliance to said rules?  The very definition of asinine.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2012, 04:42:22 pm by daggaz »
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2012, 03:52:07 pm »

Except octopus is latinized greek, and is third declension neuter, and the proper plural is octopodes.  Except, of course, neither the romans nor the greeks ever used that word, it's an english word, and should be pluralized as octopuses.

Excuse my while I do the octopodes

Dvalinn

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #27 on: April 03, 2012, 04:53:12 pm »

Short version: Both work.
Quote from: Dictionary.com
oc·to·pus
noun, plural -pus·es, -pi

Long version, including footnote numberings and other artifacts from copy/pasting that I'm too lazy to remove:
Quote from: Wikipedia
The term "octopus" is from Greek ὀκτάπους[37][38] (oktapous, "eight-footed"), with traditional plural forms "octopuses" (pronounced /ˈɒktəpʊsɪz/) from English grammar and "octopodes" (pronounced /ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/) from the Greek. Currently, "octopuses" is the most common form in both the US and the UK. The term "octopod" (plural: "octopods" or "octopodes") is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective plural "octopus" is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
 
Some authorities find that octopi is an objectionable[39] hypercorrection, feeling that the form arose from the incorrect assumption that "octopus" is a Latin 2nd declension form. However, "octopus" is a Scientific Latin 3rd declension noun with a plural of octopodes. Nevertheless, the Oxford English Dictionary (2008 Draft Revision)[40] lists "octopuses", "octopi", and "octopodes" (in that order), labelling "octopodes" 'rare' and noting that "octopi" derives from the misapprehension that octōpus is a second declension Latin noun. The book further maintains that if the word were native to Latin, it would be third declension octōpēs (plural: octōpedes) after the pattern of pēs ("foot", plural pedēs).[41] The original Latin word for octopus and other similar species is polypus, from Greek polępous (πολύπους, "many-footed"); again, usually the inappropriate plural polypī is used instead of polypodēs.
 
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that 'the only acceptable plural in English is "octopuses"', that "octopi" is 'misconceived', and "octopodes" 'pedantic'. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary[42] and the Compact Oxford Dictionary[43] list only "octopuses", although the latter notes that "octopodes" is 'still occasionally used'. The descriptivist Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists "octopuses" and "octopi" in that order; likewise, Webster's New World College Dictionary lists in order "octopuses", "octopi", and "octopodes".
 
In modern Greek, the word is χταπόδι (khtapódi; plural: χταπόδια, khtapódia), from Byzantine ὀκταπόδιον (oktapódion) derived from the Classical Greek variant ὀκτάπους (oktápous).

I do have to take issue with one thing, though: Whether or not this was the case with whoever first used the term "octopi", people don't call them "octopi" because of some "misapprehension" involving "a second declension Latin noun" (as if most of us have any idea what that means), but because "octopuses"... sounds funny.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2012, 04:56:19 pm by Dvalinn »
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saltmummy626

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #28 on: April 03, 2012, 07:25:36 pm »

My kiwi wings weren't good enough for Delores. she had to have an ALBATROSS!!
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SRD

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Re: Damn Albatrosses
« Reply #29 on: April 03, 2012, 09:09:20 pm »

PLATYPISESESES
OCTOPODESIES
ALBATROSSISIES

And that's how you confuse an idiot kids!
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