Octopus - Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor

[RockBoulevardz]

Slob was not the word I was expecting you to say.

[MadDuckInc151]

Thumbs up if you're here because of Misha Collins

[dextrite]

Doesn't she mean cephalopodes? 

[DestructoMonkey]

I reserve my right to identify a group of octopods as octopuseseseseseseseseseseses

Haters going to hate.

[azdgariarada]

Thumbs up if NOBODY directed you here because you're quite capable of finding awesome Youtube videos on your own, thank you very much!

[DwyaneWadeCounty]

Is "octopodes" correct in American English?

[deejayedwards]

Thumbs up if you were directed here by Michael Rusca.

[GegoXaren]

"octopodes" - I like the sound of that... MOVE ASIDE "octopi"!

"I went to see the octopodes at the aquarium last week"

vs

"I went to see the octopi at the aquarium last week"

I rest my case..

[mujerado]

@GegoXaren What is your "case"? That it sounds better? You didn't listen. The fact is that none of the three is technically wrong, as the editor points out at the end. Use any one you want, but other people have the same choice.

[DivineSora01]

"Hey! You're an ignorant slob."

[eftsoons]

Thank you for answering this question! I have a follow-up. I heard from somewhere (can't recall where now) that the Greek plural was "octopodae" and I've been saying that (because it's fun to say) for a few years now. I don't speak Greek so I have no idea what the logic behind that might have been. Is there any grounds for that? Can you explain why it's wrong? I shall use octopuses now without guilt (even though it's less fun to say), but I am curious about the word history.

[sbrooks9]

@eftsoons Actually, that ending is the latin plural, which wouldn't apply to octopus because of the greek root.

[SyRauk]

You should have said everything in a British accent.

[availablejan]

She's a dish of yummy Pulpo a la Gallega, pronounce it the way you like!

[PixalatedNoms]

Thumbs up if u got here from minecraftfourms lol

[smajid127]

Thumbs up if she reminds you of bridget mendler or anne hathaway

[KochuJang]

she was cuter with glasses

[cirogalli]

The conversation should have gone like this:

-Hey! I saw a group of octopuses!

-Hey! You're an ignorant slob. You saw a group of octupi.

-Don't tell ME what I saw. You weren't there.

End of story.

[mutput7]

@cirogalli Is it sad that I know several people just like the first guy? And that I'm like the second guy? And that I've had hundreds of convesations that go like this?! YES! THAT IS VERY SAD! >:'O

[cirogalli]

That's why it's better to leave those ..err animals alone, and not to mention them at all.

[atimetowork]

Is she married?

If not, i'd like to propose her !

[Chrishankhah]

So.. What DO you call a group / flock / fleet of Octopuses/Octopi/Octopodes? =p

[JTrillo]

So why would Octopi ever be acceptable if it's not a Latin word?

[gamerunknown]

@JTrillo

The grammarians basically believed that Latin was perfect (not really, but there was a belief in a "sacred" [or perhaps "Platonic"] language that had become corrupt over time which Latin was a closer analog to) so quite a few of our grammatic conventions are borrowed from Latin (such as never ending a sentence with a preposition, something that would actually sound natural to English speakers). The word also arrived via Latin (like many others), the Greek spelling was "Octopous".

[LtPowers99]

@JTrillo Tradition.

[dookiee0000001]

Odds of any of the 300+ comments ever coming more then one octopus and getting a chance to use this knowledge: 0%

[bergalpha]

Helal la ne güzel anlatıyosun panpa

[bergalpha]

cCc Kory Stamper Reyiz cCc

[imzabatch]

i love knowledge, i thank her because i never know what to say when i mean more than one octopus

[CoHScrapper]

All joking aside, I came here, not because I was sent, but because I love the information that Kory and the rest of the editors provide

[foxhounduno]

She's scorching hot.

[SharpEdges]

I can say octopodes because I'm Malaysian and we use British English......though we do make loads of grammatical mistakes, mispronounce words all the time, and occasionally make up words........we still use British English :P

[leadmorlock]

I came here cause I love Kory Stamper and the rest of you are sheep.

[McPhunk]

I knew who misha collins was:(

[Ninjachick811]

Thumbs up if Misha Collins' twitter sent you here.

[david45121]

Didn't really answer the question, "how inteligent is an octopus?"

[hotelmario510]

Hooray, I'm British! Now I can say "octopodes" all day, just because I can! PEACE OUT, YANKS! *drives away in Aston Martin drinking tea, eating fish 'n' chips, and sucking on a lime*

[TomSFox]

The word "octopus" did exist in Latin, but belonged to the third declension, not the second, so it would still be "octopodes."

[eeroth42]

I'm not sure who Misha Collins is or why she has the top 2 comments (they're saying the same thing). BUT,

thumbs up if you were sent here by explain xkcd :)

[AniVisual]

Pfft. Even in Latin no Roman would say octopi. It's the wrong declension, like how tempus (sg) becomes tempores (pl) and not tempi.

[azaleecalypso]

@AniVisual Depends on the gender. Is it third declension neuter or second declension male ?

I'm not sure a Roman would know what to call an octopus if he ever saw one though.

Not to mention he might be speaking Greek.

(you have been outgeeked~ !)

[zxjams]

@AniVisual the root is correct, tempor-, but it's a neuter noun, so the plural would be tempora (as in "O tempora! O mores!")

At any rate, it's unfortunate that both these words make me think of delicious Japanese fried vegetables and amphibious creatures. Now I'm hungry.

[scionicspectre]

I'm... I'm so happy after watching this. WHY!?

[shambolicentity]

Thumbs up if you have no idea who Misha Collins is.

[Ichijoe2112]

@shambolicentity

Wow, and here I thought that Misha was a Chicks name. and then I find out that its some bloke.

Oh well at least they didn't name him Sue.

[DaveFDP]

xkcd

[Incenderio]

I swear a group of octopus...es should be called an OCTOPOD.

[spaceLem]

I am British, I studied both Latin and Classical Greek, and I say "octopodes". I am prepared to defend this when people ask.

[Mazth]

@spaceLem I join you in this! Though I am Dutch...I ll just fake the accent ;)

[pigeonkid4]

@spaceLem

But can you do it without sounding pretentious??

[shaymizz]

If you say Octopuses, you're doing it right.

If you say Octopi, you believe what other people tell you without checking it for yourself and are basically wrong.

If you say Octopodes, every other word out of your mouth had better be Greek as well.

[webmaster2089]

I just use it as a mass noun. Many octopus. Am I the wrong-est of all?

[TwilightsChapter13]

It's octopodes for me now, and forever.

[duncanparsons]

well, hey, I have an English accent, so I'm just fine whatever I say! My preference is for octopodes (but pronounced in a more correct 'octo-poe-dees')

Rubber spanner in the works - shouldn't octopuses should be octopusses, to avoid the pronunciation 'octopewsez'...?

[MarcusSentry]

Thumbs up if you were directed here by xkcd.com

[hoticehunter]

So why is it pronounced Oc-top-o-dees and not Oct-o-podes?

[links212]

@hoticehunter Because that's just not how we pronounce words in English.

[BlackWolfsDeath]

LOL! This is just brilliant!

[BlackWolfsDeath]

LOL

[Ayertski]

Tch, ignorant slobs.

[Karochsharon]

How are there 11 people that downvoted this? Must be some kind of server glitch.

[Karochsharon]

"Hey! You're an ignorant slob!"  Amazing.

[RTube7]

Brilliant !

Keep up the good work !

[Bremerxxxx]

Octopuses >> Octopi.

[appa609]

octopodes ftw

[jtnoodle]

I just wanna (yeah, I used wanna) know why a person becomes an ignorant slob for using a variant.

[PJtheFey]

Wow... Octopodes has just become my preferred pluralization of octopus.

[Meaningless101]

PKA

[DinoguyORIG]

pka pre pre show sent me

[asg90]

<33 Misha and his entertaining twitter links!

[kenji387]

Sorry but isn't it pronounced Oc-to-podes, not Oc-top-o-des?

[Hakuromatsu]

@kenji387 Nope, she pronounced it properly. Probably another reason why it hasn't caught on.

[LoganElden]

@kenji387 You really think that you would know more about proper pronunciation than one of the editors of a dictionary?

[beckeechu]

Thumbs up if Misha Collins sent you. Thumbs down if you don't know who he is.

[yushee4l1f3]

@candleja he's on the show supernatural

[candIejac]

Misha Collins? Never heard of the man.

[chuby1tubby]

thumbs up if you have no clue who Misha Collins is...?

[TetchyTact]

@chuby1tubby I freaking love Castiel.

[Machi9095]

@chuby1tubby Why does this have to do with Misha? o.O

[Jellobotic]

@Machi9095 In February this year Misha mentioned octopuses in a tweet and people were correcting him to octopi so he linked them to this video.

[entropede]

I'm in love with this woman.

[jaxspider]

Wow, I actually learned something. Why aren't you an English teacher?

[DataRelater]

The real-world drawback to saying "octopuses" is that inevitably some wannabe-snoot will correct you—as they do when you say "a historian."



[itsonlyforever713]

I freaking love Misha Collins and am not grounded, because I knew this.

[arielleloveshim]

Misha Collins. xD

[LookRealty]

Kory Stamper needs to be hired by CNN as a host. She's just got that great way of explaining things.

[faithlessbelievers]

im so calling my classmates all these plurals. theyll be so confused. Thank you MishaCollins, thank you.

[metzi1981]

lol.. unbelievable interesting topic... xD

[cottagewat]

Kory Stamper is very pretty.

[babak622]

What about Walruses? Please tell me its Walrii!

[WaldoUnited]

Dear Kory Stamper,

Would you like to go swimming with me in the ocean? Or we can sit around and edit words and things.

[OminusWrath]

R E D D I T ?

[jin455]

what if you spoke in a French accent? which would be more acceptable?

[princeminski47]

@jin455 Without an "r", the French accent as largely wasted. "Octopuses" would be funniest if you could work a little of the old Inspector Clouseau into it.

[gregorthebigmac]

Thumbs up if you said the exact same thing as somebody else, and got a bunch of up-votes for it

[squidpants]

if you say "octopodes" and you're American, you are a snob. You probably also spell it "colour" just to be different.

[monkeyfoetus]

"Oct-TOP-po-deez" rather surprised me. I had always thought it was "OCT-to-podez"

[MvonRichthofen1918]

'inflected as in english'

hmmm... then is it actually "datums" and not "data"? "nucleuses" and not "nuclei"? "mitochondrions" and not "mitochondria"? "stomas" and not "stomata"? I should bloody well hope not.

octopodes all day, e'ery day.

[Sinaler]

@MvonRichthofen1918 I guess this means that either is correct, so you can say mitocondria or mitocondrions

[JaiHo8001]

add

[JaiHo8001]

1000 Likes and i was the one to like it to make it ! :)

[shirly79]

Learn something a day.. TQVM Misha~! <3 4 u!

[einXtein]

IT MEANS NOTHING. DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND WHAT I CAN'T DO!

[ChristopherWilde1]

awesome..... I love this.. :) I'm that much of dork it seems.

[TommySimsJr]

Octopodes! 'Cause I like to argue!

[madwilliamflint]

See now I've got to go figure out who Mischa Collins is.

[VaultCult]

@madwilliamflint He's a Supernatural cast member that randomly tweets a lot and posted a link to this video after being corrected for "not you, Kim. You're an octopus. Octopuses need no external motivators. And PS everyone, i was testing you. it's "corporal" not "corporeal". Random strangeness is one of his strong points.

[eightday]

Who's Misha Collins?

[moccaparfait]

@eightday You brazen heretic.

[AngelOfEvenfall]

...and another one who followed Misha's link :D

[ThePolishSausage87]

This is awesome! I was not redirected here by misha collins.

[Paximeister]

Merriam-Webster should do a video on the correct pronunciation of accio.

[jmoody270bc]

I did memorize this spiel and it just so happens that I perfected my English accent two years ago.

[egyptianroyalty88]

*redirected here by Misha Collins*

[OzzAngel]

At least I am not the only one Misha got to go here! :p

[Heligoland43]

*has just developed the weirdest crush on that girl, within the course of two minutes*

[Hypocatastasis]

how informational! :)

[anahitahavewala]

haha misha was right xD

[harryfromwork]

cute, and smart!

[starofinanna]

I want to marry her. How about a thumbs up for smart women?

[xxtheoraclexx]

I FEEL LIKE I JUST GOT RICK ROLLED BY MISHA!!! ♥

[jasonsangel428]

At least I am not the only one Misha got to go here!

[trickstered]

Kory, marry me!

[runevirage]

Much better than HotForWords.

[boxpilot]

i have always said octopodes...... who says octopi (morons)

[TheLeprechuan]

@boxpilot did you not pay attention to the video at all? There is nothing moronic about saying octopi... She just established this.

[MrDagren]

Send here by Misha too. :P

[sassyredbiitch]

I learned something new today because of Misha Collins :D

[liuliwuyugmail]

DARN YOU MISHA!!

[hormigaapomica]

Great work! But... does this apply to platypus as welll?

[sundaydiver]

Kory, can I marry you? :-)

[PsuedoNam]

Lyle Zapato sent ME here... who is this Misha?

[Valoelify]

@PsuedoNam Misha Collins is an Angel and the most epic creature to ever walk upon this earth for sure xD

[7flyinghecks]

@PsuedoNam Misha Collins plays the part of the angel Castiel on Supernatural. Despite Castiel's attractiveness and power, he is quite socially awkward which makes his character easy to relate to. Many people follow Misha on twitter and facebook and he is pretty funny in real life. He often posts links to stuff like this video. I am guilty of following his links which is why I ended up here.

[Sweetasp0cky]

MIIIISHA

[AnnaRoberts9]

So now I know what Misha does in his spare time...

[coolgal123kiss]

Misha sent me here ^_^

[pastuiedada]

I personally prefer octopi, but will not correct someone using octopuses either. Octopodes on the other hand seems extremely pointless, if you are going to use the correct Latin form of a word why would you simply use it for one word, why not just speak Latin?

[Vamparanoidable]

LoL :) A load of Misha fangirls watching a video about octopus grammar!

All I though about when i watched this was 'Misha has seen this!'

I bet some random librarian is watching this and is like ' who the hell is Misha!'

[Kasumi72]

DARN YOU MISHA!!

[Sailorsega]

My kindergarten teacher has a lot to answer for then.

[afolleallure]

She's adorable! <3

[ParanormalLover]

Misha Collins sent me here.

[keydazy]

@ParanormalLover Thank you. I completely forgot how I got here and now I remember I was stalking Misha on twitter.

[liuliwuyugmail]

@keydazy you follow misha and this happends

.....

[bashjpfreak7]

thumbs up if misha collins sent you to this link.

[paprikavision]

Thumbs up if you were directed here by Misha Collins.

[Netugi]

@paprikavision I was directed by my curiosity as to what the proper plural form is for "octopus", via the search engine Google.

[TheseareStrange]

They aren't legs, they're tentacles.

[PersonWithMustache]

@TheseareStrange No, actually, they're arms. XD Octopi don't have tentacles.

[BrokenWings442]

Did anyone else get sent here by Misha?

[Alazensupernuke]

Misha sent me.

[lilsister2]

"and in a british accent.'' haha love it.

[7flyinghecks]

Misha Collins sent me here.

[brennanww]

taking people to school

[pajandrum]

I would like to point out that the Merriam-Webster online dictionary has no 'octopodes' in its search results.

In fact, it lists 'octopuses' and 'octopi' as the correct plural forms

I think this problem should be addressed.

[DKApollon]

@pajandrum I'm not 100% sure, but my guess would be that Merriam-Webster is an American dictionay, and as Kory Stamper says in the video octopodes is British English and therefore would not be in Meriam-Webster's.

[pajandrum]

I would like to point out that the Merriam-Webster online dictionary has no 'octopodes' in its search results.

In fact, it lists 'octopuses' and 'octopi' as the correct plural forms

I think this problem should be addressed.

[MoldyAngle]

linked 2 this by @Mishacollins

When it comes down to it, it's still dinner regardless.

[rebeccatrishel]

I'm not sure that the broad statement that loan words get English-inflected plurals. Do you ever hear people talking about samurais, for example?

[MissionKitkat]

Octopodes? Awesome! That sounds like some sort of alien.

[ElphieFan15]

thanks misha! 

[MysteryGirl411]

Misha Collins sent me here

[calcifer1234]

This is awesome! As I have a British accent, I will now no longer ever use anything except Octopodes. Added to dictionary :)

[spndahne]

Love this. Going to use it with English classes.

[JudoCreature]

I want to be this woman.

[shelikestorunalone]

ohhh misha i love you

[RubyLestrange]

Thanks Misha.

[Meimi132]

Oh no! I totally forgot to bring an octopus!!

[bowtiesforever]

I am totally saying octopodes now. I had not realized that I was being an ignorant slob.

[jwwjr71]

She's cute, she can say it any way she wants. ;-)

[MrsComatose]

MISHAAAA