to get annoyed by poncey plurals?

[MardyBra]

If a word has been naturalised into English, why do people insist on pluralising it according to the language of its origin (or in other weird archaic ways)?

It seems to happen mostly with the Latin words. Do people do this to show off that they have Latin O-Level or something? What's wrong with forums? Fora sounds weird (something to go with fauna?) but I keep it seeing on MN?

And does it really matter that a panini is really a panino? After all, we're happy to talk about eating a bit of spaghetti rather than a spaghetto.

Oh and surely dice is now an accepted singular, and people who ask a toddler to "pass the die" are surely trying too hard to prove their knowledge?

And breathe.

Actually I can think of a couple which don't bug me, like octopi and fungi, but I thought I'd just have a little rantette anyway.

I'm sorry, I cant read this til I've watered the cacti

Little rant-ette - that's a tautology innit?

As long as you do it in a poncey way mutz....

I think that as alumni of Russell Group universities, many of us just can't help being ponces, sorry

Oh - get you BoF.

Erm isn't it octopods??

Its just language snobbery, and as such allows you to laugh your arse off at anyone that does it!

And actiually I'm not keen on folks who correct others.

Redaction

So, alopogies, I'll leave that to the PonceyPluralsPedants to sort out.

Actually.

I like the word "alopogies" - sounds like a tribe of pygmies.

Oh and when my 9 year old asked me what the plural of Hippopotamus is, my 6 year old said "Hippos". I will go with her opinion I think :o

Yes, the Hungry Hippopotami Game doesn't really roll off the tongue, does it?

I am smiling at my typo turning a thread into a socio-anthropological discussion. Wouldn't happen on NetHuns.

Pygmies put me in mind of the Papua New Guinean mud god, Pikkiwoki. As beautifully referenced here. It's always worth resharing for the unitiated...

BOF, I don't wanna have to start googling at this time of night.

Don't make me interact with your intellect at silly o'clock please?

I clicked.

I don't look that intellectual misspelling 'uninitiated'. But it's a funny link.

YANBU! I love that people get their knickers in a twist over the plural of paninni!

I'll always excuse typos.

Typoes?
Typii?
Typods?

Ah, to bemuse and ponder whilst I slumber.

Typing errata?

I'm still stuck on the plural for "chrysalis", we have 9 of them waiting to hatch. Husband suggested "cocoons" but these are butterflies rather than moths.

Hum ho.

I always thought it was about which version sounds less silly in English ... but what do I know

Cactusses -> silly : cacti
Mouses -> silly : mice
Media -> not silly, but don't get me started on that one!

I'd never say "Roll the die" but I'm glad I know about the singular noun, or "The die is cast" wouldn't make any sense would it? Nowadays, it should probably be the "The dice have rolled" but that doesn't sound quite as portentous.

Oh, bollocks, I'm only answering this to avoid facing my insurmountable programming problem ... As you were. Do the Alopogies hunt hippos?

TechnoKitten: Googling pedantically for your answer, I found this enjoyable article at The Telegraph :)

"The die is cast" is about a mould, not a cube-y number-y thing. Like die-cast models.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_casting

Actually, 'the die is cast' has nothing to do with moulds. It's the translation of Julius Caesar's 'Alea iacta est' on crossing the Rubicon, and specifically refers to the game of dice (Alea being the game, rather than the dice). Plus, early citations of it in English can be found in about 1650 (Thomas Herbert I think, although am bfing and can't easily google), 200 years before die casting was invented.

I quite like odd plurals, but that's mostly because I did Classics and know why they're odd.