On 12/4/99, at 8:49 AM, Technotranscendence wrote:
>> Her design was essentially octopi.
>
>Octopodes! The word comes from Greek not Latin roots.:):):)
"octopus" and "octopod" are different words. Octopus refers to genus Octopus; octopod refers to the order or suborder Octopoda, which includes both octopi and paper nautili.
The plural of octopod is octopods. The two dictionary plurals for octopus are octopuses and octopi.
Both words have the same etymology. My dictionary reports that they came to us from Greek through Neo-Latin. "Octopi" is accepted usage because of this stop-over in Latin.
(Or perhaps bargain-counter-pedant.) (Any devotees of P.D.Q. Bach?)