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And then we have octopi, with their separately evolved decentralised intelligence ! A mini brain in each arm, orchestrated by the main brain.
by 4gotunameagain 1y ago
And then we have octopi, with their separately evolved decentralised intelligence !
A mini brain in each arm, orchestrated by the main brain.
- bookofjoe 1y agoThe plural is octopuses. Octopi is not a word.
- 4gotunameagain 1y agoIt’s a hill I’m willing to die on ;) Both octopuses and octopodes are terrible words. And words are made by us, you cannot tell me what's a word and what isn't.
- OJFord 1y agoOctopodes is correct if you want a classical (Greek, as it is) word. Octopi is an assumption of correctness by analogy of people who don't know better, like 'if you have any feedback give it to my colleague and I' - it's not all posh and correct to say 'and I', it's wrong (in that sentence).
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bookofjoe 1y agoWhy I took the time to comment: I recently watched an excellent 2-part series entitled "Octopus!" on Prime Video: https://youtu.be/u1TLQUH43Yw?si=L8Ta4RG1Kp8tkHWU https://youtu.be/u1TLQUH43Yw?si=L8Ta4RG1Kp8tkHWU Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the narrator, must have said "octopuses" a hundred times, so it's kind of burned into my brain.
- xenadu02 1y agoFun fact: All words and grammar rules are made up. Entirely. As in... invented by humans. The laws of physics don't really care. If lots of people use "octopi" (and they do) and most people understand what it means (which they do) then congrats! It is, in fact, a word. If enough people apply an "i" ending to words then that becomes itself a new grammar rule. English, just like every other language, also has a ton of unwritten grammar rules as well as spoken word only rules. In short: octopi is in fact a perfectly cromulent word.
- hulitu 1y ago> In short: octopi is in fact a perfectly cromulent word. Webster, is that you ? /s