Talk:octopodes

Ending

It would be nice to have a page about -odes explaining when it replaces -us, examples of Greek words. I'm not sure what the term for these would be, not exactly a suffix... ScratchMarshall (talk) 18:30, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

It's not a suffix, so an entry would not be appropriate. This is simply a case in which the nominative singular does not display the stem, which is not uncommon, and any interested readers can go to the etymon and see that. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 00:22, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

octopi

Currently "octopi" is listed as a synonym. I don't believe it should be, as it's not really a plural form of "octopus" but an error. However, since there's been some editing back and forth about this I'm starting this discussion. Are there any objections to removing it? --Karlshammar (talk) 16:20, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

This is a descriptive dictionary, not a prescriptive one. We describe language as it is used, even if we know enough about etymology to consider such an use an error. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 16:38, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Ditto. Lexico does say it's 'incorrect', but that's silly, and MW is more sensible on this occasion. 'Octopi' is the normal English plural where I'm from; 'octopuses' sounds a bit odd but okay. 'Octopodes' is pedantic: if you didn't sound like a hopeless snob, you'd sound like you were playing around, like using 'polygoose' as the plural of 'mongoose'. Lots of words and forms originate in errors, but since words are arbitrary symbols, it doesn't really matter. If we were to 'correct' them, where would we stop? 'One' "should" be pronounced like 'own' rather than like 'won', and 'debt' shouldn't have a B. kwami (talk) 07:50, 25 June 2021 (UTC)