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[-] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 79 points 1 month ago

One of my favorite things in life is using Latin or Greek plurals on words that it makes absolutely no sense to use them on, and do not follow the rules of any language naturally involved.

I had steak and potati for dinner last night. Just one steak, though, I cannot eat multiple steakices

[-] dropcase@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago

Reminds me of a joke:

A Roman soldier walks into a bar and says, "I'll have a martinus"

Bartender says, "don't you mean a martini?"

The Roman says. "if I wanted more than one I would've asked for it!"

[-] lemmyartistforhire@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

I also do this! My personal top 3 are:

Jesus - Jesi

Bus - Bi

Penis - Penorum

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Penis - Penorum

WROOOOONG! Now write the full declension table on that wall. And make sure to draw some pictures with it, so you never forget the word! :-p

[-] fartographer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

People called Romanes, they go, the house?!

[-] lemmyartistforhire@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's the genitive! Genitive! Which makes the plural.. um! Penum! Penum! Romanorum penum amplitudines non magni sunt!

c===3, c===3, c===3.

Poetry was made today.

[-] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

I have a wealthy friend who has a penorium in their house.

[-] lemmyartistforhire@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Do you happen to have a picture? Asking for a friend.

[-] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately the last time I was invited I got kicked out. Got a little too excited.

Also they don't allow phones, so I couldn't take a picture.

[-] HamsterRage@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 month ago

For decades now, my wife and I have used "Kleeni" as the plural of "Kleenex".

[-] Tortellinius@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Kleenex is Kneenes according to the rules of Latin, actually

[-] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

But the plural of index is indices in Latin, so shouldn't the plural of Kleenex under those rules be Kleenices?

[-] Tortellinius@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

It's hard to tell because the deviating form in Latin is actually the nominative singular, which is why vocab lists include the genitive singular as well. All other forms have the same stem aside from Nom. Sg. A few examples are:

senex - senēs (elder)

rēx - rēgēs (king)

index - indīcēs (index)

So really anything could work as long as it ends on -ēs in plural and starts with kleen-.

[-] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Well, Latin really is weird but it allows for quite some fun stuff then!

So really anything could work as long as it ends on -ēs in plural and starts with kleen-.

Let's try this:

Kleenussies is valid, then?

[-] Tortellinius@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Haha! It would be unconventional to use a double s in any form aside from the s-perfect, which is the time form of a verb, the superlative forms of adjective, or beyond the first two syllables. After a bit of research an accurate word would be either a g, k, or a c (all formed in approx. the same area of the mouth as x) instead of the x followed by the -ēs. Trying to pronounce Kleenex with an i before the g, k or c sounds less like Kleenex than index sounds similar to indices. The transition from a vibrating sound like the n to an i also feels unnatural at that part of a word, normally it comes after a t or a d sound. Also the name itself stems from the verb "to clean" and the latin suffix -ex. If it suggests something like a "cleaning king" the resulting word could therefore be Kleenegēs, but Kleenecēs is not off the table.

However, my initial suggestion is inaccurate. The senex-style plural (Kleenēs) is a special case of which it ism't resolved why senex drops its -x entirely on flexation.

this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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