Being wrong is not easy to admit, especially for a proud man such as myself.  But, I was wrong this morning: I had no idea that the preferred plural for “octupus” is “octopuses,” NOT “octopi.”

Reading an article on Wired.com this morning about new species of octopuses (from whence the above image came), I was stunned that the author and/or editor used “es” instead of “i.”  The grammarian in me was SURE the plural was octopi; after all, that’s how I learned it.  However, in these rapidly changing times, where technology changes in the blink of an eye and the English languages seems to change almost as quickly, I had to look it up for myself.  Lo and behold, what did I find on Dictionary.com but octopuses listed first.  Not only that, but “octopi” is actually incorrect, due to the word’s Greek origin (words with Latin origins ending in “-us” get the “-i” plural ending).

Needless to say, I’m shocked.  So shocked, in fact, that I had to look it up in The Oxford American College Dictionary (yup, that’s right: a paper dictionary.  Hardback cover and everything!  Ah, old school.) just to make sure.  Here’s what I found:

Whoa.

Utterly.  Flabbergasted.

Yeah, I know, it’s only the word octopus, but the way I see it, since I’m usually a stickler for proper grammar, this is blowing my mind.  I wonder how many other “rules” I’ve learned incorrectly.

If you know of any such errors, please enlighten me.