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Academic writing
(mander.xyz)
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Not who you're responding to but I must vehemently disagree. In English, which doesn't have a centralized governing body, the correct way of pronouncing/spelling something depends on your intention and expected audience. If your intended audience is English speakers then the correct spelling is probably octopi or octopuses, whichever you believe will cause the least confusion/distraction (surely it varies regionally).
However, usually my intention is to portray my unfathomably superior knowledge and intellect, so the correct spelling/pronunciation in this case is: octopodes (which I think he had listed but ironically got 'corrected' to 'octopuses').
Modulating one's speech according to audience is not dialectic morphology, much less general etymology โ it's a matter of scope.
You can use whatever you want, no argument there. Whether or not it comes off sounding semi-literate is more up to your audience and your own self-awareness than any "centralized governing body", citizen. ๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ๐ซฃ