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Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

nature.com

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Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#91

Post by Moissanite »

mike10921 wrote: post #77
4gotunameagain wrote: post #4

May I suggest a book to anybody that finds cephalopods interesting, especially given the connection with consciousness which is a recurring topic in these circles: Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness My only critique is that the plural spelling is octopuses and not octopi , just like the article. Octopuses just looks wrong and sounds funny, I stand my ground. Yes yes I know that i…

If someone at a party complained to me that octopuses is wrong and it should be octopi, I would most likely be moving on to the next table..

And you'd be right to do so - life is too short for spending time with people who are wrong: https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2022/02/01/plural-octopus/

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#92

Post by pmb_ »

xcambar wrote: post #90
pmb_ wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd have to give an anti-recommendation to this book. The author never explains his thesis and the book reads like his thesis was "Octopuses are cool" and spends the entire time listing fun facts and interesting stories about his interactions with cephalopods. He spends very little time drawing connections to consciousness or speaking about what octopus life can tell us about consciousness. There is a whole chapter w…

Is there a book or resource you would recommend then?

If you're just curious about octopuses, I think you can probably learn much more in much less time by doing your own research and finding articles like this.

If you're more interested in consciousness a good place to start is "Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind" by Annaka Harris.

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#93

Post by barrenko »

bananarchist wrote: post #9
4gotunameagain wrote: post #4

May I suggest a book to anybody that finds cephalopods interesting, especially given the connection with consciousness which is a recurring topic in these circles: Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness My only critique is that the plural spelling is octopuses and not octopi , just like the article. Octopuses just looks wrong and sounds funny, I stand my ground. Yes yes I know that i…

No, the plural is octopodes, just like cactus->cactodes, virus->virodes and surplus-surplodes (my favorite)

Isn't it virii (joke)?

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#94

Post by 867-5309 »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #4

May I suggest a book to anybody that finds cephalopods interesting, especially given the connection with consciousness which is a recurring topic in these circles: Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness My only critique is that the plural spelling is octopuses and not octopi , just like the article. Octopuses just looks wrong and sounds funny, I stand my ground. Yes yes I know that i…

IIRC on QI they said it's octopodes, the -pus becoming -podes in the plural as foot to feet

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#96

Post by joeconway »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #4

May I suggest a book to anybody that finds cephalopods interesting, especially given the connection with consciousness which is a recurring topic in these circles: Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness My only critique is that the plural spelling is octopuses and not octopi , just like the article. Octopuses just looks wrong and sounds funny, I stand my ground. Yes yes I know that i…

Also this https://www.scribd.com/book/317091083/The-Soul-of-an-Octopus...

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#97

Post by tokai »

lalos wrote: post #69
bananarchist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the plural is octopodes, just like cactus->cactodes, virus->virodes and surplus-surplodes (my favorite)

what is the plural for campus?

>The Latinate plural form campi is sometimes used, particularly with respect to colleges or universities; however, it is sometimes frowned upon. By contrast, the common plural form campuses is universally accepted.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/campus#Etymology

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#98

Post by jacobmartin »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #76
daveslash wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be a word like "fishes". I once saw "fishes" on an interpretive sign at an aquarium and some folks were mocking such and obvious grammatical error. Turns out, "fish" is the correct way to refer to multiple individual fish as a group, whereas "fishes" is the correct way to refer to multiple species of fish. I wonder if "octopi" might refer to multiple octopus without making any indication as to weather they are…

octopi arises because people have learned Latin 2nd declension masculine nouns, by accident or repetition, where pluralizing (nominative case) turns the -us to -i. It's a pattern matching phenomenon. It would be less weird if there were not spelling irregularities, since the -pus is meant to be foot (like pes, pedes...in Latin, or pos, podes,... in Greek). Basically, the spelling irregularity triggers a sensible patt…

Maddeningly, it doesn't even apply to all Latin -us nouns. For instance, the plural of apparatus should be apparatūs if we're applying the Latin rules. Apparati, as it might seem, makes no sense! So even when the pattern match correctly identifies the language, it can be misleading.

--fellow Latin nerd

Re: Octopuses caught on camera throwing things at each other

#99

Post by ch4s3 »

cph123 wrote: post #36
bananarchist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the plural is octopodes, just like cactus->cactodes, virus->virodes and surplus-surplodes (my favorite)

I googled "cactodes" and this comment was the 7th result on the first page.

It's 6th now.
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