JigmeDatse
asks
what those eight legged cephalopods are called. Singular and plural. Seems that "nobody knows", especially regarding the plural.
Very interesting. I checked my dictionary...
Arbieroo
has
no clue about 8=legged cephalopods, but octopuses have 8 tentacles and squid have 8 tentacles and two arms...
JigmeDatse
says
Arbieroo: Well, I'm not sure what to call them, I guess "limbed"? Because that's probably accurate too. So we've got two octopuses?
Arbieroo
says
"octopuses" is the correct plural in English, yes. I had to look this up recently - the reason escapes me, though.
JigmeDatse
feels
it may be a matter that no one can decide what the roots are, because they kind of are a mishmash.
Arbieroo
says
I mean, you can see why people often guess"octopi" right?
JigmeDatse
feels
octopode/octopodes has some merit as well. "octopuses" "just feels wrong."
Arbieroo
says
JigmeDatse: my feeling, too. Should be octopi like hippopotomi, if you ask me.
sef_lopod
says
when the world welcomes its new squiddly overlords y'all can just call them sir.