Who makes the rules?

[Ed62]

A bad thing happened this morning. I was thinking. When we were kids, we were told the plural of octopus was octopi. Suddenly it was changed to octipuses. Who makes the rules?

Ed

[JoeyGee]

LOML makes all the rules and changes them at will.

[cabinetman]

Ford did it. It was because of the Ford Focus. They didn't want to have a parking lot full of 'em and call them Focii.
.

[crokett]

I just always thought it was octopuses. Actually I never really thought about it at all.

[Copper]

Hmm... Oxford dictionaries actually says that the correct should be "octopodes"

From AskOxford.com:

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.

[ironhat]

Hmm... Oxford dictionaries actually says that the correct should be "octopodes"

From AskOxford.com:

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.

Yaah, whatever he said, me too... I guess.

[Tom Slick]

I've been trying to figure out if it is "Priuses" or "Priuii" when I see two of them together.

figure this one out, whomever dictates the Spanish language dropped a few "unneeded" letters out of their alphabet a few years ago. Imagine if all of a sudden the letters Y, I, V and a few others were no longer part of our language!

[TB Roye]

JoeyGee said right. LOMl's make the rules as the are adjustable for each situation.

Tom

[LinuxRandal]

I thought they started messing with it, after that James Bond gal!

[gerti]

I've been trying to figure out if it is "Priuses" or "Priuii" when I see two of them together.

"Priusses", and the r and i are silent...

[Alex Franke]

I've been trying to figure out if it is "Priuses" or "Priuii" when I see two of them together.

Good thing we don't have more than one Hawaii, or we'd have to go around trying to say Hawaiiii.

[rcp612]

First off, I can't imagine sitting around thinking about an octupus.

[Ed62]

First off, I can't imagine sitting around thinking about an octupus.

Man, you gotta get a life!

Ed

[cabinetman]

First off, I can't imagine sitting around thinking about an octupus.

I know exactly what you mean. About two weeks ago, or maybe it was like a year and a half ago, I saw an ad on TV for one of those old style mops that reminded me of an octopus. I said to my wife "Does that mop remind you of an octopus?" She said "No".
.

[Bruce Cohen]

If all the above is true, then what is the plural of Lexus?

Bruce