h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And what do you believe is the plural of omnibus?

Nebuloid means "in the form of a cloud".

>> And what do you believe is the plural of omnibus? <<

Is that omnibus, the dative/ablative plural of omnes, itself a plural noun meaning all? Or the big red things with people in(omnibusses)?

RF

I think the normal plural of omnibus, the big red thing, is "omnibuses" with a single s.

"He busses the participants to the studio in a number of buses".

I favour the fundamentalist approach. We speak English, not Latin or Greek. Therefore, Octopus -> Octopuses; Forum -> Forums; Omnibus -> Buses.

(thinks) I wonder if English is unique in attaching a snobbery to Graeco-Latin plurals? I regard them as shibboleths intended to distinguish the masses from the 'educated' elite.

(Shibboleth? Judges 12: 1-15. http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/ It means 'ear of corn' or, possibly 'stream'. I've no idea what the Hebrew plural is.)

The "Thank you" was for Gnomon.

For discussions on "octupus" and its plurals, refer to

Post 6541 above
F19585?thread=100569&post=3524383#p3524383

Post 5907 Further above
F19585?thread=100569&post=2800610#p2800610
(Whatever happened to Jack Naples?)

Post 5891 - even further above
F19585?thread=100569&post=2794246#p2794246

etc etc .... You really learn things on this thread!!

And from another thread, a helpful link:

F89129?thread=281291&post=3534259#p3534259

Here's what I wrote in the Edited Entry on Octopuses:

"The name octopus comes from the Ancient Greek octopous meaning 'eight legs'. The plural of the Greek word is octopodes, but there is no real reason to use this word in English; it's much easier to stick to the normal rules of the language and say 'octopuses'. Don't say 'octopi' - if you want to be pedantic, go the whole hog and insist on 'octopodes'. Interestingly, in modern Greek, the 'c' and 't' have been softened and the initial 'o' dropped, making the almost unpronounceable chthopodhi."

Jack Naples got very gloomy and then announced one day that he was finished with h2g2.

An old joke:

Professor to students:

"Have you concluded your experiments on the pendula?"

Students, in reply:

"Yes, and now we are sitting on our ba doing our sa".

Talking out of their ani, obviously.

RF

No, really, I dont....

Gnomon -- isn't the Greek eight-prefix "octa-" (as in octagon) and the word octopus a (humorous) conglomeration of the Latin "octo-" and the Greek "p[o]us", deliberately making any plural other than "octopuses" incorrect?

The thing about omnibuses was merely my oblique way of getting at the poster who believes that the correct plural is octopi. Previous page, no names no pack drill.

I believe the Greek prefix can be octo- or octa- depending on something or other. I never studied Greek and have absorbed a small amount of Modern Greek from conversation-level-only Mrs G.

*


Hums away to self...
Mud, mud, glorious mud. ..
They dived all at once with an ear-splitting splosh
Then rose to the surface again
A regular army of hippopotami
All singing this haunting refrain *

All together now

The "helpful link" from Trillian's Child http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/plurals gives this "Although it is often supposed that octopi is the 'correct' plural of octopus, and it has been in use for longer than the usual Anglicized plural octopuses, it in fact originates as an error. Octopus is not a simple Latin word of the second declension, but a Latinized form of the Greek word oktopous, and its 'correct' plural would logically be octopodes."

I bow to their superior Oxfordness.

Manolan is usually right when it comes to Latin and Greek.

well I read somewhere that octopussies is correct and that's what I'm going to carry on saying. Not that I have much reason to say this in my everyday life........

According to my husband who did learn Greek at school, the Greek prefix is only "octo" - he had to look it up, but before he did, he seemed to think that it could also be "octa".

On looking it up he concluded:

We have the words "octagon", "octahedron" etc. But the number "8" in Greek is definitely "Octo" and it seems that the "-a" may have been introduced for Western European pronunciation purposes. He checked 3 sources for me. In German, it is officially acceptable to spell it "octagon" or "octogon", but octagon is the most usual.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Greek%20numerical%20prefixes gives octa-

Oh dear. It does say that "octo" is Latin, though.