# Octopodes and... platypodes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 28, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658 "2009-04-28T19:12:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/1 "2009-04-28T19:12:30Z")
I know from the Dope that an octopus and another octopus are called octopodes.
[This](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlezp7ysspo) 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.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/2 "2009-04-28T19:14:26Z")
From Wiki:
> [@](#):
>
> There is no universally agreed upon plural of “platypus” in the English language. Scientists generally use “platypuses” or simply “platypus”. Colloquially, “platypi” is also used for the plural, although this is pseudo-Latin;[3] the Greek plural would be “platypodes”
>
> SOURCE: [Platypus - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus)
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.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/3 "2009-04-28T19:21:55Z")
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).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/4 "2009-04-28T19:29:27Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> [This](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlezp7ysspo) TV Tropes page seems to be saying that the plural of platypus is platypodes.
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.”
> [@](#):
>
> I mean, people have been arguing about octopodes/octopi/octopusses since forever, but I wasn’t aware of a similar debate for, uh, platywhatsists.
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.
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### Author:  [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/5 "2009-04-28T19:46:48Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> 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).
Buses.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/6 "2009-04-28T20:00:08Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/7 "2009-04-28T20:04:55Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/8 "2009-04-28T20:05:30Z")
> [@Dr. Drake](#):
>
> “Moose,” on the other hand, is a more recend borrowing from Abenaki or Narragansett. New words tend to get regular plurals.
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”.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/9 "2009-04-28T20:23:03Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> People who pedantically insist on Greek plurals of animal names borrowed into English should be stampeded by rhinocerotodes.
To nitpick, rhinocerotes.
From the excellent [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2139/what-is-the-plural-of-penis) on Latin plurals by **bibliophage:**
> [@](#):
>
> Note that rhinoceros is a pachyderm of a different color. Both words are ultimately from Greek, and the last syllable is pronounced the same in English, but rhinoceri is not proper Latin (nor Greek). That form has found its way into some English dictionaries, but I would advise against messing with rhinoceri. In Latin rhinoceros is a third declension noun with the plural rhinocerotes. Rarely you see the plural form rhinocerontes in English, but that is properly the plural of a variant Latin singular form, rhinoceron. You’ll be laughed straight out of the zoo if you try to use either one in English. Stick to rhinoceroses. Or better yet, rhinos (certainly not rhinoi).
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/10 "2009-04-28T20:48:25Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/11 "2009-04-28T22:01:43Z")
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
> **[e05.pdf](https://geowords.com/histbookpdf/e05.pdf)**
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/12 "2009-04-28T23:36:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> 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
>
> [http://geowords.com/histbookpdf/e05.pdf](http://geowords.com/histbookpdf/e05.pdf)
Well, Eohippus made it back out of the graveyard of synonymy; perhaps Brontosaurus will too.
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/13 "2009-04-28T23:54:21Z")
has it been decided then?
one goose, two geese.
one moose, two meese.
one shoop, two sheep.
we could start a trend.
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### Author:  [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/14 "2009-04-29T00:24:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> 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”.
Rules of taxonomic priority don’t apply to common names. The common name for the critter is “platypus”, the genus is _Ornithorhynchus_.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/15 "2009-04-29T02:08:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/16 "2009-04-29T02:08:48Z")
> [@Darwins\_Finch](#):
>
> Rules of taxonomic priority don’t apply to common names. The common name for the critter is “platypus”, the genus is _Ornithorhynchus_.
By the same reasoning, I think the common name of _Apatosaurus_ by rights should be brontosaurus.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/17 "2009-04-29T02:19:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> one goose, two geese.
> one moose, two meese.
> one shoop, two sheep.
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).
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### Author:  [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/18 "2009-04-29T02:28:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> By the same reasoning, I think the common name of _Apatosaurus_ by rights should be brontosaurus.
I quite agree.
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> I still like my Trachodonts, too.
I rather liked the name “Laelaps”, but wouldn’t you know, that name belonged to a stupid mite…
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### Author:  [@kapntoad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapntoad)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/19 "2009-04-29T14:10:00Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#):
>
> one shoop, two sheep.
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> One mongoose, two polygoose.
Those are wonderful. (Heh, twoderful.)
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to the theme song for this thread.
[“One Hippopotami” by Allan Sherman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlBrQoG6xk)
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopodes-and-platypodes/494658/20 "2009-04-29T16:48:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> 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
>
> [http://geowords.com/histbookpdf/e05.pdf](http://geowords.com/histbookpdf/e05.pdf)
Platapeople?
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