# "Penii" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 8, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717 "2006-10-08T15:32:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/81 "2006-10-09T23:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] What’s the relevance of this comment? [/QUOTE] Curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/82 "2006-10-09T23:36:24Z")
Okay. [There are two plurals: _anuses_ and _ani_](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anus). I suppose you could also say another plural is _assholes_. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/83 "2006-10-09T23:42:09Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Okay. [There are two plurals: _anuses_ and _ani_](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anus). I suppose you could also say another plural is _assholes_. [/QUOTE] A Latin word that essentially takes the -es ending, instead of the -i ending you would expect. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/84 "2006-10-10T00:31:21Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Okay. [There are two plurals: _anuses_ and _ani_](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anus). I suppose you could also say another plural is _assholes_. [/QUOTE] Actually, the technically correct plural is “anodes”. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/85 "2006-10-10T01:34:36Z")
I love how these threads bring the jackasses out of the woodwork, and the peanut gallery like me to kibbitz on it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/86 "2006-10-10T01:43:51Z")
Every time I see something along this line (Latin words for body parts or functions), I find myself wondering if the Latin words, which are considered “more polite” than the Anglo-Saxon words, were actually polite words or “naughty” words in Latin. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/87 "2006-10-10T02:15:02Z")
[QUOTE=lno] I love how these threads bring the jackasses out of the woodwork, and the peanut gallery like me to kibbitz on it. [/QUOTE] Jackasses, or jackassi? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/88 "2006-10-10T02:37:43Z")
[QUOTE=St. Urho] Jackasses, or jackassi? [/QUOTE] Jackasines ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/89 "2006-10-10T03:04:39Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Every time I see something along this line (Latin words for body parts or functions), I find myself wondering if the Latin words, which are considered “more polite” than the Anglo-Saxon words, were actually polite words or “naughty” words in Latin. [/QUOTE] J.N. Adams’s book _The Latin Sexual Vocabulary_ answers this question in mind-numbing detail. The first sentence of chapter two reads “The basic obscenity for the male organ was _mentula_.” Other words include _verpa_, _virga_, _penis_, _cauda_, and a whole host of others. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/90 "2006-10-10T03:17:25Z")
More on _penis_ from J.N. Adams — apparently it was an obscenity in Classical Latin, but a mild one. “At worst _penis_ was probably a risqué colloquialism of educated speech. Its lack of currency, at least in the later period, is shown by its failure to survive in the Romance languages…” (p 36) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/91 "2006-10-10T08:29:48Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] Actually, the technically correct plural is “anodes”. [/QUOTE] So the genitive singular is “anodis”? There’s almost a pun there about a beautiful Greek youth, but it’s not quite working out. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/92 "2006-10-10T13:37:33Z")
You can avoid many grammatically nebulous areas by referring to (an octopus, a penis) as a “thingamabob.” (The plural of which, incidentally, is “thingamaboobies.”) Oh, and I’ve always assumed “penii” was tongue in cheek. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/93 "2006-10-10T14:19:44Z")
Naw, that’s french kissing. ~ d&r ~ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/94 "2006-10-10T14:45:54Z")
Is the plural of _ibex_, by analogy with _index_, _ibices_? Is the plural of _ibis_, by analogy with _penis_, _ibes_? ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/95 "2006-10-10T15:10:40Z")
Real question is, do octopi have penii? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/96 "2006-10-10T15:38:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Real question is, do octopi have penii? Well, my understanding is that _octopodes_ don’t have _penes_, and _octopuses_ don’t have _penises_, so I’d guess that octopi don’t have penii, either. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/97 "2006-10-10T15:40:46Z")
What I found really annoying in college was people who would say “syllabi” _in the singular_. Okay, fine you’re educated enough to make a Latin plural from _syllabus_ (even though in my personal opinion, better to stick to _syllabuses_). But now you think it’s so clever that you use it in all cases – “Be sure to pick up a syllabi.” Idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/98 "2006-10-10T15:50:24Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Real question is, do octopi have penii? [/QUOTE] [Hectocotyli](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hectocotylus) (which puts an entirely new light on phallic-shaped tentacles in hentai) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/99 "2006-10-10T16:32:09Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Yes, but _octopi_ is a proper Latin pluralization. _Penii_ is not. Using the word _octopi_ may be pretentious, but at least it’s correct. [/QUOTE] You never cease to amaze me, Q. How much did you pay for the SDSAB tag again? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717/100 "2006-10-10T17:06:31Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] … I guess it wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be… [/QUOTE] Odd, that’s where I live and I haven’t seen you around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penii/375717.md?page=6)