Oh, how tempting to point out the flaws in this quote. But then I'd have two of my friends ready to flog me with living octopi, and I neither enjoy receiving floggings nor wish harm to innocent cephalopods. Perhaps some other route of expression for the crankiness is called for... :-)
"Octopi" is surely the accepted form in English; did we but speak Latin, I could see my way clear to be corrected. Unlike Hebrew, which was successfully revivified in a parallel to that of Frankenstein's monster, Latin remains a corpse. (A well-known and -viewed one, but dead, without daily speakers to speak of.)
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Therefore, the proper Latin plural of "octopus" is "octopodes", not "octopi".
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"Octopi" is surely the accepted form in English; did we but speak Latin, I could see my way clear to be corrected. Unlike Hebrew, which was successfully revivified in a parallel to that of Frankenstein's monster, Latin remains a corpse. (A well-known and -viewed one, but dead, without daily speakers to speak of.)
Yep. Cranky, today, I am.