A greetings to all the forum-dwellers

Azurewraith0 · Post by **Azurewraith0** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 2:31 am

Hello! I've been a rather long time lurker and reader of Ghastly's comic, and I finally told myself:

"God dammit Bret, get off your lazy ass and register at those forums, you've got nothing else to do."

So, hey, here I am! I'm happy to be on a forum filled with.. such.. other perverted people! Huzzah *confetti*

In other news, to make this more than a boring self-introductory post.. I actually managed to get one of my friends to go as a tentacle monster for halloween, even though that was more than a week ago.

And, we had a rather creative costume, that, by the end of night, kinda smelt a bit bad... My friend, having a rather good amount of money from his birthday, and nothing to spend it on, decided to order a crate or two of fresh octopus from a seafood place somewhere on the west coast (we're in Nebraska, mind you. It arrived within three days from some shipping, completely packed in ice and such. It was two days before Halloween, so we kept it in the freezer at his house.

On halloween, we took some string, and took all the octopi, and put my friend in a hazmat-like suit. It was big and insulated. We then proceded to like.. cover him with a net, put the string through all the octopi, using a magical needle and the string, and tie them all to the net that was over him, and secured to his body. Took us about 5 hours, but, seeing him go up to people's houses, and say "trick or treat" covered in seafood was golded. He didn't even really look like a tentacle monster, just a shambling mound of.. octopi.. At the end of the night, he smelt horrible, so he had to ditch the suit, and we got covered with slime while trying to help him out of his getup, but all in all.. it was a very stupid thing to do, that was really funny.

And, I've managed to rant on.. and develop a craving for some calimari, god damn you stomach.

Happypeepeehead · Post by **Happypeepeehead** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:30 am

pictures?

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:44 am

*sniff* poor octopuses...

*psssssst.. not octopi*[

Maximuscoolman · Post by **Maximuscoolman** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:56 pm

The word you're looking for is octopodes.

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:03 pm

Octopuses is correct as far as english is concerned. Octopodes if you have a slightly more scientific bent. Never.. ever.. ever octopi

Tellner · Post by **Tellner** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:23 pm

squidflakes wrote:Octopuses is correct as far as english is concerned. Octopodes if you have a slightly more scientific bent. Never.. ever.. ever octopi

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: oc

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:42 pm

If you'll notice, I'm the second member listed on the TONMO "get to know you page"

Captain Tylor · Post by **Captain Tylor** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 5:04 pm

squidflakes wrote:Octopodes if you have a slightly more scientific bent. Never.. ever.. ever octopi

Why? (I like the idea of octopees -- like the foot/feet plural)

Azurewraith0 · Post by **Azurewraith0** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 10:08 pm

Well.. I guess I've mildly learnt some english. While I was typing that up I was thinking "Octopusses, octopi, what the hell is the plural?" And.. I just decided on octopi and that if I make a mistake, hey, someone will correct me, which.. has apparently happened, but I'm still not sure what's right @_@;

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 10:55 pm

Its ok.. you can use the dreaded octopi if you must. Merrian-Webster's has it in the book because its used that way (though incorrectly) in public. Being that Webster's is a collected volume of the American English language, things like that get added from time to time. So.. you can make an arguement that octopi is correct.. but it still grates on my nerves.

Lictor · Post by **Lictor** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 11:44 pm

Cambridge has it as octopusses and octopi also:

Cambridge Dictionaries Online wrote:Definition
octopus noun [C] plural octopuses or octopi
a sea creature with a soft oval body and eight tentacles

So just use either one.

Also welcome to the boards.

Mynnia · Post by **Mynnia** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:08 am

squidflakes wrote:Octopuses is correct as far as english is concerned. Octopodes if you have a slightly more scientific bent. Never.. ever.. ever octopi

Octopussies? Pleaaaaase!

Maximuscoolman · Post by **Maximuscoolman** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:48 am

Lictor wrote:Cambridge has it as octopusses and octopi also:

Cambridge Dictionaries Online wrote:Definition
octopus noun [C] plural octopuses or octopi
a sea creature with a soft oval body and eight tentacles
So just use either one.

Also welcome to the boards.

Oh come on, Oxford is so much better than Cambridge.

Although it is often supposed that octopi is the 'correct' plural of octopus, and it has been in use for longer than the usual Anglicized plural octopuses, it in fact originates as an error. Octopus is not a simple Latin word of the second declension, but a Latinized form of the Greek word oktopous, and its 'correct' plural would logically be octopodes.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/ ... ar/plurals

Plurals in english are decided based on where the word comes from. Not just Latin and Greek- the plural of gateau is gateaux because it's originally French.
It's generally accepted that is you don't know the plural for something, you can stick (e)s on the end.
It's bad English to use a plural that isn't for either of these reasons, ie, a plural that hasn't come from the original word from a different language or a plural with (e)s on the end, eg octopi.
Camridge probably have the wrong plural because their etymology is incorrect (probably just not updated). Merrian Webmaster seen to have the correct etymology but still incorrect plural, so I don't know what's going on there.

Sure, you can use octopi if you want,
but tehn agen u can rite liek tihs if u want
Octopi is incorrect and my make you look foolish, octopodes is relatively unknown and may cause confusion, best stick to octopuses.

Usagi-kun · Post by **Usagi-kun** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:06 pm

ok this is a rareity instead of the thread devolving into something hentai it has gone into proper english grammer

Infinity-Iz-Blue · Post by **Infinity-Iz-Blue** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:49 pm

What has become of the world when a necomer can have you all arguing sensibly and correctly? Where is the characteristic downward spiral that we usually take? Is there no reason anymore?! Oh, and hi there, don't worry, Squiddy will have you preaching from the bible of Octopuses and Tentacle Hentai in no time.

Irish Witch · Post by **Irish Witch** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 4:35 pm

I think you're all wrong.. I think the plural of Octapus is actually <wimper>..

Certainly multiple octapus (once trained by squidflakes) should count at <sensual moaning> since the squid design is so important to the concept??

<moans a little more> oh for god sakes squiddie. Stop molesting the newcommers!

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:00 pm

The Oxford dictionary focuses on correct english whereas the Websters dictionary focuses more on the way the average person speaks.

Sirsius · Post by **Sirsius** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:06 am

If I remember my history correctly, Websters came in to being around the time of the American revolution as a way for the States to make the language its own and take it away from the Damned English. The purpose was to standardize the language in a uniquely American way, and the creators decided abritarrily on the spelling of words. Which is why Americans spell with zees and others use esses instead of the zeds.

The Oxford dictionary tends to take more of an encyclopedic/archivist approach to its treatment of words, look at it in your local library, depending on the edition 15 or so volumes 1/2 a foot thick of bible pages containing everything on every word in the english language.

But in the end its two different dialects of the same language. If you're American you should be using Websters, if you're English Oxford's. If you're Canadian you can use either provided you act smug when using the OED (its just like our money, we draw the Queen on it but would rather it were American). And if you're an Aussie? I dont know, I would assume Oxfords though.

And to reply to that which set me off on this: both are correct. Oxford's is correct through meticulous record keeping and checking. While Websters is correct because it take the average person and makes him correct.

After all this typing reminds me why i tend to lurk.

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 5:07 pm

But both are wrong on their definition. Octopuses have no tentacles. Only squid and cuttlefish have tentacles.

A tentacle has sucker pads on the distal club only. Arms have sucker pads along their ventral surface. Arms are thicker and have a different muscular structure, more suited to fine motor control and gripping strength, where as tentacles are designed to expand and contract along their length (also, almost totally fast burn muscles instead of slow burn).

<fundimentalist cephalopod researcher rant>
<mouthfoam>
FURTHERMORE!
The word 'octopus' is derived from Greek 'oktopous', which is formed from 'octo-' meaning 'eight' and 'pous' meaning 'foot.' The *Greek* plural of 'pous' is (roughly) 'podes' and we see this form in such English words as podiatrist. (The real Greek root or combining form is really 'pod-' IOW.)
Thus the *Greek* plural of 'octopus' is 'octopodes.' This is the 'correct' English plural if you want to be pedantic and think that English should adopt plurals along with words adopted from other languages (as Hebrew 'seraphim' as a plural for 'seraph').

However, the whole octopi thing came from either mistaking the root of octopus for Latin, and adding the wrong ending (-i being reserved for second declension verbs), or just someone trying to be cute..

</rant>
</foam>

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 5:15 pm

Irish Witch wrote:I think you're all wrong.. I think the plural of Octapus is actually <wimper>..

Certainly multiple octapus (once trained by squidflakes) should count at <sensual moaning> since the squid design is so important to the concept??

<moans a little more> oh for god sakes squiddie. Stop molesting the newcommers!

But Irish dear.. you're not new!