I know from the Dope that an octopus and another octopus are called octopodes.
This TV Tropes page seems to be saying that the plural of platypus is platypodes.
Is this true? They’re joking, right? I mean, people have been arguing about octopodes/octopi/octopusses since forever, but I wasn’t aware of a similar debate for, uh, platywhatsists.
From Wiki:
Personally I would opt for the plural of platypus to be “platypus” (such as the plural of moose is “moose”). The others cause a verbal stumble in my mind.
ETA: Always was curious why the plural of goose is “geese” but the plural of moose is “moose”. Yeah “meese” sounds funny but who knows…if we grew up with it then it might seem normal.
I just checked in two Australian dictionaries, and both prefer “platypuses” as the plural.
What would you use as the plural of the English word “omnibus”? (Which is a Latin word, but doesn’t have a Latin plural, because it’s already plural in Latin).
It would be if we spoke Greek. Since we do not, and that the word “platypus” has been adopted into English, there is no reason not to use a regular English plural form, that is, “platypuses.”
Similarly I would regard “octopuses” to be the best option as a plural in English. “Octopi” and “platypi” are bogus Latin, and there is no good justification to use them. (However, “octopi” has been used so often that it has been accepted even by some dictionaries.) While “octopodes” is a correct Latin plural, the more typical form in technical scientific publications is the anglicized form, octopods.
Buses.
Because “goose” and “geese” are both forms inherited from Old English and in turn from proto-Indo-European, and have a long history in the language that has allowed them to grow apart in form. “Moose,” on the other hand, is a more recend borrowing from Abenaki or Narragansett. New words tend to get regular plurals.
People who pedantically insist on Greek plurals of animal names borrowed into English should be stampeded by rhinocerotodes. That said, eschew faux-Latin like “platypi” – form the plurals according to the normal English forms.
Exception: some animals in Bovidae and some birds in Galliformes already have “irregular” English plurals – coinages where those standard usages are the root element form their plurals accordingly. The plural of fowl is fowl, even if they are newly discovered New Guinea treefowl; same thing for sheep. More than one muskox are muskoxen, from ox>oxen. And so on.
But “moose” doesn’t in fact have the regular plural “mooses”; rather, its plural form is identical to its singular. Just as in the case of the word “sheep”, which is an old Germanic word and not a recent borrowing.
Not arguing with your general point that recent loanwords are more likely to be given regular plural forms, just noting that it doesn’t actually apply to “moose”.
True, and I didn’t even notice. I’ll assume it’s by analogy: a lot of hoofed herbivores have the same singular and plural (antelope, deer, elk, sheep), though some of them also take -s. I wonder which are inherited forms and which by analogy? I’ll look it up this afternoon if I get some time.
Well, I like “platypodes”. It has a nice ring to it, and is grratifyingly weird.
And if you want to get pedantic about it, “platypus” shouldn’t even be “platypus” – the name had already been used for a class of beetles, and by the rules of taxonomic precedence, the Australian Doofenschmirtz-hunting creature ought to be “Ornithorhynchus”. But “platypus” fits it better, IMHO. I still say “brontonsaurus”, too
Well, Eohippus made it back out of the graveyard of synonymy; perhaps Brontosaurus will too.
has it been decided then?
one goose, two geese.
one moose, two meese.
one shoop, two sheep.
we could start a trend.
Rules of taxonomic priority don’t apply to common names. The common name for the critter is “platypus”, the genus is Ornithorhynchus.
Tell that to the people who keep te;lling me it’s a Brontosaurus.
I still like my Trachodonts, too.
By the same reasoning, I think the common name of Apatosaurus by rights should be brontosaurus.
One mongoose, two polygoose.
And regardless of what anyone thinks of it officially, common names aren’t decided in any official capacity, so the common name of Apatosaurus is indeed “Brontosaurus” (amusingly, Firefox spellchecker recognizes the latter, but not the former).
I quite agree.
I rather liked the name “Laelaps”, but wouldn’t you know, that name belonged to a stupid mite…
Those are wonderful. (Heh, twoderful.)
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to the theme song for this thread.
Platapeople?