Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey for January 18, 2024

Latin denial?

Marina has teeth?

Octopuses sounds funnier and is more fun to say.

“Octopus” comes to English via Latin but originally from Greek. Merriam-Webster: “New Latin Octopod-, Octopus, from Greek oktōpous.” Therefore, octopuses or octopodes, but not octopi.

The plural of “octopus” can be either “octopuses” or “octopi.” Both forms are considered correct, but “octopuses” is generally more accepted in modern usage. The word “octopus” has Greek origins, and according to traditional rules, the plural should be formed as if it were a Latin word, resulting in “octopi.” However, since “octopus” has entered the English language and is not a true Latin word, both forms are considered acceptable. (ChatGPT)

A little?

Wow!! That was quite the undertaking. It was a LOT of octopuses to count!

I suppose there’s an octomom amongst you.

Hardly worth the jacked-up response. How about a little humor?

You say octopuses, I say octopi…!

Careful. Sharks enjoy Octopussies as a snack.

That’s a lot of octopi – pardon me, octopuses.

Maybe Sherman wants to make an Octo pie.

Octopen, octopists, octopians, octopa…

No need to get so touchy, Marina, it can be pronounced either way.

One of the plural variants used in the United Kingdom was “octopussy”, I believe…

Octopi is the oldest plural of octopus, coming from the belief that words of Latin origin should have Latin endings. Octopuses was the next plural, giving the word an English ending to match its adoption as an English word. Lastly, octopodes stemmed from the belief that because octopus is originally Greek, it should have a Greek ending. I still like Octopi, myself. Que sera sera. It’s NOT all Greek to me. :-)

Whatever! Pick the plural you like best.

Octopodes.

She looked terrifyingly like Hawthorne, for a moment there.

“Like the octopus itself, the English language is, in many cases, very flexible: both octopuses and octopi are acceptable and commonly used plural forms of octopus (despite what anyone on the internet may say).But why octopi? Well, in Latin, there’s a class of words that end in -us. These words get pluralized by replacing -us with -i. Many English words with strong roots in Latin have retained this pluralization pattern—think alumnus/alumni and stimulus/stimuli."Excerpted from https://www.dictionary.Com/e/octopuses-or-octopi/Or, if you prefer, there’s the Ocean Conservancy take: https://oceanconservancy.Org/blog/2022/02/01/plural-octopus/Your choice.

Do you think that Sherman got the message ……. I know that I did …. :)

I’ll have my octopi alamode.

Another comic that should have been run on 3/14. There have been a lot of those over the last week or so.

Octopi is equally valid in my dictionary. Only a Moron calls others morons.

I prefer “octopi.”

We Boomers were probably the last to officially learn it was “octopi”. Unless your high school biology text was really out of date.

If I own 2 cars made by Lexus, do I have Lexii?

I say octopodes.