I’m not just a geek, I’m a classical geek. Hence, I dig articles like this recent Straight Dope column on Latin (mostly) plurals in English, which starts off with the penetrating question, What is the plural of “penis”?
(via Sasha Volokh)
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Can’t tell your plurals without a program
I’m not just a geek, I’m a classical geek. Hence, I dig articles like this recent Straight Dope column on Latin (mostly) plurals in English, which starts off with the…
Heh. Just for yuks, we started using “boni” instead of “bonuses” in our D&D games 25 years ago, and I decided to amuse myself be expanding the practice to include all words ending in “-us.” One of my friends always laughs when he hears me refer to the mass transit vehicles as “bi,” and here it appears in the article, though the author’s not judging me for the practice! 😉
Now if only Rush Limbaugh would have read this before he went into his description of the Iowa Caucuses as the Hawkeye Cauci. The etymology of the word is uncertain, so the Latin plural rules do not apply. Two theories are that it is a Native American word or comes from the Boston Caucus Club, in which case it comes from a medieval Latin term for a drinking vessel. Drinking vessel. Hmm. That might explain the results we see from caucuses. 🙂
Given the temps in Iowa in January, I suspect the vessels would be large mugs (filled with peppermint schnapps-laden coffee, to be sure).
Count me in as a classical geek. Now I need to go take care of the rhinoceron.