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I use hyphens. A lot. Find a post by me that's more than a word and 90% of them will have one.

This post has been edited by Shotgunnova on 5th March 2006 23:58

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Quote (ultimage @ 5th March 2006 14:34)

No they're not.  "Genii" is correct.  "Octopi" is correct.  The others are not.

whoops ! for a bunch of "latin scholars," it sure is ironic we prefer "octopi," isn't it? "octopi," is, in fact, *not* a proper plural from the latin. the correct *latin* plural would be "octopodes;" the word "octopus," coming from the greek "oktopous" (pl. "oktopodes") is of the latin 3rd declension (like "tigris" pl. "tigrides"), *not* the 2nd declension like, for example, "genius." thus the proper latin plural is "octopodes," and octopi -- which is, i suppose, officially recognised by webster's -- is an improper plural that comes from the *confusion* of "octopus" with a third-declension noun. "octopuses," then, since it uses an english plural convention, is really the more correct.

edit: yes, you can usually successfully judge a random internet scrub by his punctuation, spelling, or grammar. punctuation is important, but why be anal about it?

This post has been edited by gozaru~ on 6th March 2006 01:09

I am generally a stickler when it comes to grammar and punctuation in a non-internet setting. That said, unless the sentence has been butchered to near unrecognizable level, I just don't really care.

Quote (Rangers51)

No offense meant, btw, Caesar. I suppose my anger is meant more for those who acknowledge that they're not using any sort of proper grammar or spelling and refuse to admit that it's not as easy to deal with in the course of an active IRC chat. Generally those who are snotty about it.

No offense taken, R51. I knew what you meant, I was providing another viewpoint.

Gozaru, every dictionary I have ever checked has confirmed both octopuses and octopi as legit plural forms of octopus. I understand your derivation, but you cannot blame me for concluding that octopus would behave like a 2nd declension noun when all my sources lead me to believe so (not to mention the fact that octopus isn't a Latin word, so I can't use that as reference).

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Is PJ

It almost makes me want to roll over and die when I'm in a chatroom and I see people saying "liek zomfgz i saw th mst awxsome thng 2day..."

I have no problem with people who CAN stand it, and indeed I applaud you, because you've figured out how to get patience into your head.

I've gone into chatrooms, many times. Without fail, every one of the ops in the chats will be talking correctly, as I do. The same holds true for forums...have you ever seen R51 make a punctuation mistake?

Edit

Ok, maybe roll over and die is an exaggeration but you know what I mean

This post has been edited by Quad on 6th March 2006 03:56

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Squenix games completed:

FFIII
FFIV
FFVI
FFVII
FFIX
FFX
FF Tactics: Advance 2
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest 8
Dragon Quest 11
Super Mario RPG

Quote (Caesar @ 5th March 2006 21:05)

Gozaru, every dictionary I have ever checked has confirmed both octopuses and octopi as legit plural forms of octopus. I understand your derivation, but you cannot blame me for concluding that octopus would behave like a 2nd declension noun when all my sources lead me to believe so (not to mention the fact that octopus isn't a Latin word, so I can't use that as reference).

Goz is absolutely right about 'octopodes.' The dictionary allows 'octopi' because people say 'octopi.' People say it because the word has been misanalyzed for a long time. So 'octopi' is correct by virtue of common usage, not because it's okay to misanalyze a word and defend your misanalysis. The first time I was told that 'octopus' was a Greek root (by my historical linguistics professor), I was surprised, too, but I didn't grumble about how no one could blame me for being wrong. And no one is advocating saying 'octopodes' instead because we speak English, not Greek. The dictionary is there to help you use English the way native speakers of English use it, not to decide which commonly used words are acceptable to prescriptive grammarians. Personally, I think 'octopi' sounds a little ignorant...but that doesn't stop me from saying it.

As for punctuation, I think horrible 13375p34k can be absolutely hysterical...in small doses. Real errors bug me, though. Not the small ones--sometimes you leave off a period or a comma or something just because it's not worth the extra time it would take to make the correction--but it really irritates me when poor punctuation makes something difficult to read.

Also, this is the stupidest poll I've seen on the CoN since your last one, FKP.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

So saying that they'll be turned into gay male sex is more appropriate?

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..DDR..Maine..
..Hikaroo-chan no Deviantart..

<Tiddles> And I love how people suggest "Why not call it my great name?????" when their name is clearly the worst thing ever.
<Tiddles> "How about ; Mozilla Xplorer & Mozilla Xpress."
<Tiddles> How about you die in a fire?

I personally have patience against netspeak. This doesn't mean that I use it that much though. What about netspeak "words" that are longer? Like hawt instead of hot?

As for punctuation, I put quotes, mostly due to me doing the quote fingers a lot.

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

I'll be honest - I hate this whole netspeak thing, and f someone types like that, I'm going to assume that they're dumb as a box of rocks until proven otherwise. I just don't think it benefits anyone, really, and though the offender may argue that it's easier, really, it makes it harder on the eyes of everyone else and doesn't create a very good impression. An amusing story concerning this sort of thing - I was once in a heated argument with a guy by the name of xSeFiRoThx or something to that effect, when he cracked out something that basically went like this: "If anything, typing like this means I'm smarter than everyone else because I'm capable of making my sentences efficient and understandable." I hate how the world in general is coming to accept 'u' in the place of 'you,' 'fone' in the place of 'phone,' numbers as letters and whatnot - it's kinda getting integrated into our way of life, and, in my eyes, is pissing all over the English language.

Nevertheless, I'm not a model citizen. While I try my best to stick to the rules of punctuation and such, I will dip into shorthand if there's a well-recognised abbreviation for a popular or relevant phrase, such as 'brb,' 'btw,' and 'lol.' Likewise, I'll occassionally miss off capital letters and full stops to add to the 'amusement factor' of a sentence, or because, well, it's hip and cool. On a number of headers and the like on the magazine cover I designed for my Media Studies class, I opted against the use of capitals, because that's cool and hip now. My teacher confronted me about it, and I was able to flick to a random page of a magazine and there'd be an example of the very same thing. It's kinda sad, but, hey. It's not a major concern of mine.

OK, it's sorted.

Also, does anybody comprehend what an ellipsis and an obelisk are?

This post has been edited by Franz Kefka Palazzo on 6th March 2006 18:00

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You say I'm weird: you're the person who is exited when you kick a leather testicle into a net.

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Kill me, or else you a murderer!

You know, I'm not sure what your game is, but it's really not amusing. There's no good reason to lock it for 30 minutes, so I'll actually expect this to stay locked.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I had to lock it to do a check on my computer. But I can leave like this now.

Moderator Edit

So you're not following my expectation. Very well, then, I'll expect a PM explaining fully what you were checking, ASAP. -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 6th March 2006 18:03

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You say I'm weird: you're the person who is exited when you kick a leather testicle into a net.

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Kill me, or else you a murderer!

Quote (Barrylocke @ 6th March 2006 11:33)

This doesn't mean that I use it that much though. What about netspeak "words" that are longer? Like hawt instead of hot?

I use words like that when I'm making fun of something. For example, "hawt chix" when I'm simultaneously (1) saying that average guys think those girls are attractive AND (2) making fun of the fact that they think such. I use "lawl" when I need to make fun of someone's crappy joke.

The one notable exception is "gawd". I use this so that I can safely say "oh my god" without offending anyone who thinks it's a use of God's name in vain or that I shouldnt spell it out or something like that. Plus, it "properly" becomes a four-letter word.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Anyone who uses an interrobang immediately owns the key to my heart.

"You used an interrobang‽"

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"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

Quote (karasuman)

Goz is absolutely right about 'octopodes.' The dictionary allows 'octopi' because people say 'octopi.' People say it because the word has been misanalyzed for a long time. So 'octopi' is correct by virtue of common usage, not because it's okay to misanalyze a word and defend your misanalysis. The first time I was told that 'octopus' was a Greek root (by my historical linguistics professor), I was surprised, too, but I didn't grumble about how no one could blame me for being wrong. happy.gif And no one is advocating saying 'octopodes' instead because we speak English, not Greek. The dictionary is there to help you use English the way native speakers of English use it, not to decide which commonly used words are acceptable to prescriptive grammarians. Personally, I think 'octopi' sounds a little ignorant...but that doesn't stop me from saying it.

I used to think that octopi sounded ignorant too, so I looked it up in the dictionary (it never sounded right to me). Sure enough, I saw it in there, so I just assumed it was a Latin word and have used it ever since. But now I feel like the idiot.

You and goz are certainly right. I apologize if I came across as ignorant.

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Is PJ

Quote (Caesar @ 6th March 2006 16:30)

I used to think that octopi sounded ignorant too, so I looked it up in the dictionary (it never sounded right to me). Sure enough, I saw it in there, so I just assumed it was a Latin word and have used it ever since. But now I feel like the idiot.

You and goz are certainly right. I apologize if I came across as ignorant.

I, for one, don't think relying on a dictionary is ignorant. That's what they are there for, and I don't put much stock into the minor degradation of pure English that is "octopodes" v. "octopi." It's certainly less an issue than ridiculous use of punctuation and the swapping of numbers and symbols for letters.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (karasuman @ 5th March 2006 23:57)

Quote (Caesar @ 5th March 2006 21:05)

Gozaru, every dictionary I have ever checked has confirmed both octopuses and octopi as legit plural forms of octopus.  I understand your derivation, but you cannot blame me for concluding that octopus would behave like a 2nd declension noun when all my sources lead me to believe so (not to mention the fact that octopus isn't a Latin word, so I can't use that as reference).

Goz is absolutely right about 'octopodes.' The dictionary allows 'octopi' because people say 'octopi.' People say it because the word has been misanalyzed for a long time. So 'octopi' is correct by virtue of common usage, not because it's okay to misanalyze a word and defend your misanalysis. The first time I was told that 'octopus' was a Greek root (by my historical linguistics professor), I was surprised, too, but I didn't grumble about how no one could blame me for being wrong. And no one is advocating saying 'octopodes' instead because we speak English, not Greek. The dictionary is there to help you use English the way native speakers of English use it, not to decide which commonly used words are acceptable to prescriptive grammarians. Personally, I think 'octopi' sounds a little ignorant...but that doesn't stop me from saying it.

As for punctuation, I think horrible 13375p34k can be absolutely hysterical...in small doses. Real errors bug me, though. Not the small ones--sometimes you leave off a period or a comma or something just because it's not worth the extra time it would take to make the correction--but it really irritates me when poor punctuation makes something difficult to read.

Also, this is the stupidest poll I've seen on the CoN since your last one, FKP.

You know, although this is a phrase and not a word, I always had a problem with people saying "I could care less." I think if you could care less, then you have more capacity to care less (meaning you care more); therefore, it should read "I couldn't care less." But it seems that "I could care less" is used so frequently that it's practically more accepted than the proper form.

As far as netspeak goes, I definitely prefer it if someone uses proper capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc., but I'm not a troll about it, and I can't recall if I've ever pointed anyone out for it. I'm only bothered when a sentence is so mangled that it's almost impossible to read.

This post has been edited by The_Pink_Nu1 on 6th March 2006 23:50

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SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

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"You used an interrobang‽"

Was in a roleplay as a crimefighter called that. Long story.

I'm not particularly fond of overblown the chat language, but I don't think it's that flagrant. If anything, it's just as bad as those who "fake" talk like it around every corner...you know what I mean: "LOLZY!111!!11ksfjsds!lollevel1". Mimicking it with the intention of making other people stupid for doing it kinda kicks both ways.

Quote

As far as netspeak goes, I definitely prefer it if someone uses proper capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc., but I'm not a troll about it, and I can't recall if I've ever pointed anyone out for it. I'm only bothered when a sentence is so mangled that it's almost impossible to read.

Word. For the grammatically correct who actually type normal sentences and use big words, it's quite unbelievable that they can't discern meaning from netspeak posts. To me, it comes off as grandstanding, 'cause ninety-nine out of every one hundred netspeak posts aren't nearly as bad as people make 'em out to be (Ctrl+F "LOLZY" ).

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Seriously.
Tell me how you intend to turn them into gay male sex.
Or you could change the topic to something else instead of using Japanese in a completely incorrect manner. And in a way that isn't possible!
:D

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..DDR..Maine..
..Hikaroo-chan no Deviantart..

<Tiddles> And I love how people suggest "Why not call it my great name?????" when their name is clearly the worst thing ever.
<Tiddles> "How about ; Mozilla Xplorer & Mozilla Xpress."
<Tiddles> How about you die in a fire?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 6th March 2006 16:57)

I, for one, don't think relying on a dictionary is ignorant. That's what they are there for, and I don't put much stock into the minor degradation of pure English that is "octopodes" v. "octopi." It's certainly less an issue than ridiculous use of punctuation and the swapping of numbers and symbols for letters.

again, no one is saying or even insinuating that "octopodes" is the proper english plural; i'm not sure what gave you that impression. i personally find "octopuses" to be the preferred english plural of the word, given that "octopi" is an incorrect derivation from the latin. now, it's certainly nowhere near as unforgivable as that garbage y'all usually mock in chat, but the irony in "octopi is correct; [octupuses is] not" smells faintly of language *elitism,* the unfavourable antipode of the degenerative mockery of english that is so-called "leetspeak."

edit:

Quote

Or you could change the topic to something else instead of using Japanese in a completely incorrect manner. And in a way that isn't possible!

uh-oh. 「やおいにする」 is a totally legit phrase in the japanese slang lexicon.

This post has been edited by gozaru~ on 7th March 2006 07:35

Actually, I have been corrected.
It's gay male sex manga.
Not just the gay male sex.


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..DDR..Maine..
..Hikaroo-chan no Deviantart..

<Tiddles> And I love how people suggest "Why not call it my great name?????" when their name is clearly the worst thing ever.
<Tiddles> "How about ; Mozilla Xplorer & Mozilla Xpress."
<Tiddles> How about you die in a fire?