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 Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 6:39 pm
It's everywhere. You see it the moment you log in. That's right, it's the 3rd button of the four at the top. "Forums"!
Like the word medium or stadium, the plural of forum is fora! Like media or stadia. Is this bugging anyone else?
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 10:31 pm
The Latin word "forum" is a fourth declension noun and the plural of fourth declension (neuter) nouns is -i, so it would probably be Fori. Even being a bit of a Latin geek, it doesn't bother me because it's such a common English word. Did you know that the plural of octopus is octopodes?
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 10:36 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 6:12 am
Esmoth Did you know that the plural of octopus is octopodes? actually refers to any of the mollusks that have eight tentacles. That would include the octopus, but not only the octopus. This should clear up any taxonomy issues. Technically, they only refer to the octopus, but it does leave room for growth if they were to find another biologic species who fit the bill.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 10:53 am
Catch-22 Esmoth Did you know that the plural of octopus is octopodes? actually refers to any of the mollusks that have eight tentacles. That would include the octopus, but not only the octopus. This should clear up any taxonomy issues. Technically, they only refer to the octopus, but it does leave room for growth if they were to find another biologic species who fit the bill. That's true. Dictionary.com says that the plural is octopuses or octopi, but if you're going by the original Greek, the plural of "pus" or "pous" (foot) is "podes" or "poda" (depending on who you ask). I suppose it's acceptable to say "octopuses" because as Kaze pointed out, we speak English, not Greek.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 7:03 pm
Oh-mi-kaze Esmoth The Latin word "forum" is a fourth declension noun and the plural of fourth declension (neuter) nouns is -i, so it would probably be Fori. I didn't realize that. I had always considered "forum" as a second declension noun, like most neuter nouns ending in "-um." I'm having a tough time seeing this as an exception. Do you have a source? Er... yeah. I thought it was a second declension neuter noun too. Even still, judging from "cornu", it would be "fora" - because neuter in the plural, even in the third/fourth/other declensions ends in "a/ia".
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 1:35 pm
Oh-mi-kaze That's interesting, considering both Merriam-Webster Online and Dictionary.com claim that it is either "octopi" or "octopuses." "Octopodes," judging from the combined roots, might not work because it might include other arthropods with eight "feet." Please cite a source. I'm not railing on you, Esmoth. I just want to know where this is coming from, because I'm confused. Ah, you must've edited this recently, or at least after I last looked at it. Here's a page with a section mentioning different plurals of the word. That section is at the bottom, and it concludes that "octopodes," though correct in a way, is pedantic. I can live with that. I'm more used to saying "octopuses" anyway.
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