# why buses instead of busses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2001, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108 "2001-11-02T12:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/21 "2001-11-03T00:29:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David Cronan \* > \*\*Another strange example is “antenna”. There are two plural forms. The original “antennae” refers to insects and crustaceans. The newer form “antennas” refers to radio aerials. I suppose radio engineers just did not know their Latin. \*\* And of course, Database Administrators, when talking about a database index, don’t use the plural “indices”, they say indexes. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/22 "2001-11-03T01:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > > **How many one-syllable singular nouns are there that end in s but not ss?** > > Haven’t given much thought to that, but chaos comes to mind.\*\* How exactly do you pronounce that with only one syllable? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/23 "2001-11-03T01:29:39Z")
No need to get snitty, Keeve. I have to admit though, I like “bra”. A possible headline: “Greyhound modernizes its fleet of bra”. Meanwhile, my head is spinning with plurals of omni and second and fourth declensions. (What happenend to first and third declensions … or do declensions only come in even sizes?) Also, I learned here on the SDMB that “octopus”, being derived from a Greek root, is properly pluralized as “octopodes”, not “octopi”. However, no dictionaries seem to confirm that. Maybe she of the gray eyes could help out with that one? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/24 "2001-11-03T01:30:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*\* If the plural of octopus is octopi and platypus is platypi \*\* We’ve been over this before \ and no doubt will have to again… In the first place, these nouns are not Latin, they’re Greek. The _-us_ here is not a Latin second or fourth declension ending, nor is it a Latinization of Greek _-os_. So a plural in _-i_ just cannot apply here. The original Greek is _oktopous_. The Greek for ‘foot’ is _pous_ and the plural is _podes_. In English, it’s perfectly correct to use the plural “octopuses.” That’s what marine biologists call them. But if you want to use the original Greek plural, it would have to be “octopodes.” Same with “platypodes.” ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/25 "2001-11-03T04:41:38Z")
Just to put in my two cents… the “buses” spelling irritates the hell out of me. I want to read it aloud as “byoozus” for fault of the single-s-e spelling. I’m the only one I know who consistently spells it “busses.” If I were dictator of the USA, I’d make everyone spell it that way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/26 "2001-11-03T05:11:46Z")
Do I put footnotes at the feet of all the different pages? Oh, what silly oxen we be! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/27 "2001-11-03T05:58:21Z")
Just to annoy everyone, the plural of “bus” in both French and Italian is “bus”. (Despite what Robert-Collins might have to say about it, “bus” means “bus” in French, at least in Quebec.) ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/28 "2001-11-03T07:02:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dqa \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > > > **How many one-syllable singular nouns are there that end in s but not ss?** > > > > Haven’t given much thought to that, but chaos comes to mind.\*\* > > How exactly do you pronounce that with only one syllable? \*\* Kaus ---
**Author:** ![SteverinoAlaReno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SteverinoAlaReno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteverinoAlaReno)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/29 "2001-11-03T14:52:55Z")
Omphaloskeptic, while we’re digging out old Latin poems, here’s one: Civile, si ergo Fortibus es inero Novile deus trux Vatis inem causan dux 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/30 "2001-11-03T16:03:57Z")
Well I’d rather be hit by a buss than a bus. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108/31 "2001-11-03T21:25:19Z")
Don’t you know that using “busses” as the plural of bus in signs is the single biggest cause of car accidents at train stations that have both a bus turnaround and a kiss-and-ride area? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-buses-instead-of-busses/91108.md?page=1)