Talk:octopus

octopi

Is it accurate to call octopi hypercorrect? What indicates it is a misapplication of the latin -i plural to greek word "octopus" rather than a nonstandard application of the english -i plural to the english word "octopus"? 67.168.218.52 22:12, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Perhaps 'folk etymology'? kwami (talk) 01:44, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

I do think that's better than hypercorrect. It still presupposes ignorance tho, when it's equally valid to say it's a purposeful nonstandard inflection (ignoring the fact that octopi isn't really nonstandard anymore). 67.168.218.52 20:06, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

If no one disagrees, I might change the wording to say "nonstandard" and remove "mistaken notion" WugglyWuggumsIV (talk) 06:53, 27 October 2022 (UTC)