# Proper Greek pluralization, should it trump over 100 years of common English usage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 15, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752 "2006-08-15T01:34:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/141 "2006-08-22T18:17:16Z")
[QUOTE=sinjin] operae = operases? I love it, _optimissa_! sinjin šŸ˜‰ [/QUOTE] Silly **sinjin** : the plural of operae is operodes! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/142 "2006-08-22T19:44:00Z")
Is Magna Opera anything like the Bolshoi Ballet? šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/143 "2006-08-22T20:46:39Z")
According to Baldrick, a great work is a Magificent Octopus. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/144 "2006-08-22T20:52:14Z")
[QUOTE=Case Sensitive] According to Baldrick, a great work is a Magificent Octopus. [/QUOTE] And so we have come full circle. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/145 "2006-08-22T22:17:03Z")
Is a magnum opera anything like a switchblade symphony? ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/146 "2006-08-22T22:43:37Z")
[QUOTE=FinnAgain] Is a magnum opera anything like a switchblade symphony? [/QUOTE] Thatā€™s where ā€œMack the Knifeā€ comes from, right? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/147 "2006-08-24T00:42:14Z")
[QUOTE=Pazu] Thatā€™s where ā€œMack the Knifeā€ comes from, right? [/QUOTE] No, that one was not Magnificent but merely Threepenny. šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/148 "2006-08-24T02:49:51Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] No, that one was not Magnificent but merely Threepenny. šŸ†’ [/QUOTE] Not Magnificent, only Munificent? šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/149 "2006-08-24T05:28:13Z")
[QUOTE=MilTan] But, as **bordelond** pointed out, in many cases we do use the proper plural form as required by the Latin declension. Many words, such as ā€œgenusā€ and ā€œopus,ā€ while appearing to be second declension, are properly pluralized according to their third declension rules (so ā€œgeneraā€ and ā€œopera,ā€ respectively). [/QUOTE] Well, since we use opera as a singular, you might want to pick a third exampleā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/150 "2006-08-24T10:35:38Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Well, since we use opera as a singular, you might want to pick a third exampleā€¦ [/QUOTE] Good point. ā€œIt should be on all our agendas while in Milan to take in a few operas.ā€ This is the point at which synonyms are encouraged. ā€œOf all Rossiniā€™s [strike]opera[/strike] musical works, the only ones he is remembered for are his operas.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/151 "2006-08-24T12:06:12Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Good point. ā€œIt should be on all our agendas while in Milan to take in a few operas.ā€ This is the point at which synonyms are encouraged. ā€œOf all Rossiniā€™s [strike]opera[/strike] musical works, the only ones he is remembered for are his operas.ā€ [/QUOTE] ā€œOf all Rossiniā€™s [del]opera[/del] musical works, the only ones he is remembered for are his operas.ā€ I think you were going for this affect using the [del] ā€¦ [/del] code. Jim ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/152 "2006-08-25T00:37:57Z")
[QUOTE=Case Sensitive] Well, overlooking the fact that winged horses arenā€™t real and octopods are, Pegasus was a proper noun, a name for a particular flying horse, and I have never heard it used as a designation for the class of flying horses, let alone pluralised as Pegasi: I would call them either winged horses or, if I wished to classify them scientifically, hippopteryxes. [/QUOTE] A, you mean hippoptery_c_es, & 2, you obviously are unfamiliar with Gygaxian fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/153 "2006-08-25T01:07:08Z")
[QUOTE=foolsguinea] A, you mean hippoptery_c_es, & 2, you obviously are unfamiliar with Gygaxian fantasy. [/QUOTE] Itā€™s not so much that heā€™s unfamiliar with it that irks me; itā€™s that he seems to think that, because itā€™s not of high literary value, the way it uses words is insignificant. Thatā€™s a bizarre attitude. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/154 "2006-08-25T02:12:10Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] Itā€™s not so much that heā€™s unfamiliar with it that irks me; itā€™s that he seems to think that, because itā€™s not of high literary value, the way it uses words is insignificant. Thatā€™s a bizarre attitude. Daniel [/QUOTE] Yeah! Because normally we can expect prescriptivists to be reasonable and logical in their approach to language. On the other hand, itā€™s particularly inconsistent that heā€™s willing to cling to a half-assed excuse that the source in question isnā€™t quality literature, and yet Iā€™ve never once seen a prescriptivist back down when Iā€™ve cited Shakespeare, whoā€™s committed just about every one of those prescriptivist bugaboos. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752/155 "2006-08-25T04:28:20Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] Yeah! Because normally we can expect prescriptivists to be reasonable and logical in their approach to language. [/QUOTE] Heh, fair point. I guess I just hadnā€™t seen that particular lame argument before in quite that form. Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-greek-pluralization-should-it-trump-over-100-years-of-common-english-usage/368752.md?page=7)