the problem with learning japanese

[Trifectionx]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

I was always taught it was octopi. And that is what I teach to my students.

its octopodes

;p

[Tsuwabuki]

So it is. I see that it is hypercorrection. However, it is still my assertion that a common mistake such as that does not fall into the same category as internet slang. This is not an issue of evolving vocabulary, as octopus is in relation to how vocabulary successfully deals with Latin and Greek, which few outside of academics study at this point in our history.

That being said, apparently the dictionaries themselves do not agree, with "octopuses" being most common, "octopi" being a hypercorrection, and "octopodes" being considered pedantic. For what it's worth, my own dictionary software underlines only octopodes, but does not underline "octopuses" nor "octopi."

Still, the point is that "internet slang" constitutes an extremely new addition to the lexicons (plural), and that such "internet slang" is not widely accepted the way "octopuses" or "octopi" are. Therefore, you have really presented a false comparison. Unlike the issue with the various plural forms of octopus, there are no credible linguistic sources of authority claiming that "ur" or "wen" or "thx" are valid and correct forms in written English.

Therefore, I still reject your earlier arguments as lacking justification, regardless of your raspberrying emoticon.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

"octopodes" being considered pedantic

I think you misspelled "awesome."