I thought the plural of octopus is octopuses, because it's a third declension noun in Latin.
I am starting to rethink what I thought I knew about the reasons for inflection for number in English. Also, I think one needs to be careful, after all, English is not a romance language, the Oxford scholars, who put a lot of current inflections into modern dictionaries and grammars, seem to have forgotten that.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 8:04, 1 reply, 14 years ago)

This is true
but it is heavily fortified by Norman French. For example, the word ask (an Old English word). The French is demander where we get the word demand from, which isn't quite the same as 'ask', but is very close in meaning.

If you have an interest in linguistics, have a look at the Gaelic languages. Not so much the grammar, but the spelling and use of consonant mutation. The first sound in a word can change depending on the possessive.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant_mutation#Celtic_languages

A mate of mine is learning Scots Gaelic. I'm going to trump him though by learning Cornish.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 29 Mar 2010, 11:39, Reply)