Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
And here I thought octopussies was the plural of octopus  Actually I would have guessed octopi and likely have been greeted with a blank stare at the fishmongers as well. |
That's the problem: the pseudo-intellectuals assume it's a Latin word and try to sound clever by saying "octopi". Unfortunately for them, it's not Latin but Greek
I was interested to learn in a previous thread on this topic that American dictionaries allow "octopi" as a legitimate plural, whether, for example, my Chambers (British) English dictionary says:
pl ocˈtopuses, octōˈpodēs (or /-topˈ/); ocˈtopī is wrong.