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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 2114264" data-attributes="member: 10201">I'm more than a decade out of date, but last i checked (at one point, i was reading the research of all 3 of the guys doing significant octopus studies), there was no consensus among octopus experts on the English plural of octopus--octopus, octopi, and octopuses are all accepted. Among language people, yes, the linguistic basis for "octopi" is non-existent--that was my mistake (and when i last looked this up was pre-internet, and i didn't have easy access to an OED, and couldn't find anything that discredited "octopi"). However, you'll note that pretty much every source refers to octopodes as the 'correct' (quotes included) plural. That's because it's the correct Classical Greek pluralization--but we're speaking English. And just as we say "AHK-ta-pus" not "ahk-TAH-pos", i see no reason to pronounce the plural as "ahk-TAH-po-deez", rather than applying English rules to the pluralization of what is now an English word, and using "octopuses"--which several sources i found identify as "the correct English plural".So, criticism accepted, but correction rejected. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>