flamingoes flamingos

[plumtart]

I am a minor pedant and not bad at spelling, but why does my spell check (and a random google on uk websites) tell me that flamingoes is spelt flamingos?

Is this an exception to a rule or a rule that I havent understood properly?

I was thinking about tomatoes and potatoes in the car the other day (as you do). I'm sure that as a child I picked up somewhere that the plurals were different - and can remember mulling this over, potatoes, tomatos. Or was it potatos, tomatoes?! I can't remember the details now... but I realised that I now pluralise them the same way.

So has a convention changed? Has a mis-spelling become normal usage? Or am I (gasp) in error?!

So, sorry, I have no answer, but at least now you're not wondering alone!

Nouns ending in '-o' originating from other languages don't usually add the 'es' suffix for plurals, neither do abbreviations (discos, pianos, photos etc). 'Flamingo' comes from Portuguese (?) so would use this 'other origins' rule.