"cryopreserved Squid and/or Octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides..."
May 20, 2018 3:53 PM Subscribe
I figured they came from the Ood Sphere.
posted by waninggibbon at 4:07 PM on May 20, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by waninggibbon at 4:07 PM on May 20, 2018 [6 favorites]
[spoiler]
Humans are the real aliens.
posted by betweenthebars at 4:19 PM on May 20, 2018 [7 favorites]
Humans are the real aliens.
posted by betweenthebars at 4:19 PM on May 20, 2018 [7 favorites]
Humans are the real aliens.
The real aliens are the friends we made along the way.
posted by Foosnark at 4:21 PM on May 20, 2018 [65 favorites]
The real aliens are the friends we made along the way.
posted by Foosnark at 4:21 PM on May 20, 2018 [65 favorites]
Now it's the time to say that if you're going for the pedantic comment of "the plural of octopus..." remember that it has greek and not latin roots. Therefore, the pedantic plural would be octopodes.
Or just don't.
posted by andycyca at 4:30 PM on May 20, 2018 [18 favorites]
Or just don't.
posted by andycyca at 4:30 PM on May 20, 2018 [18 favorites]
No other object as been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than octopi. Even the former leader of the United States of America, James Earl Carter Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, But it's been proven he only saw an octopus.
posted by Query at 4:35 PM on May 20, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by Query at 4:35 PM on May 20, 2018 [23 favorites]
Scientific studies have shown that you are never more than five feet from an octopus.
posted by darkstar at 4:43 PM on May 20, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 4:43 PM on May 20, 2018 [20 favorites]
that's a misconception; it includes the undersea cave-dwelling Octopus Georg who is an outlier adn should not have been counted
posted by Countess Elena at 4:46 PM on May 20, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 4:46 PM on May 20, 2018 [29 favorites]
Scientific studies have shown that you are never more than five feet from an octopus.
But they have 8 feet and I only have 2, so I'm 6 feet from an octopus.
posted by MtDewd at 4:48 PM on May 20, 2018 [76 favorites]
But they have 8 feet and I only have 2, so I'm 6 feet from an octopus.
posted by MtDewd at 4:48 PM on May 20, 2018 [76 favorites]
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
And nope.
psilocybin mushrooms on the other hand ...
posted by philip-random at 4:49 PM on May 20, 2018 [7 favorites]
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
And nope.
psilocybin mushrooms on the other hand ...
posted by philip-random at 4:49 PM on May 20, 2018 [7 favorites]
God, I want this to be true. Why can't cool stuff ever be true.
posted by something something at 4:50 PM on May 20, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by something something at 4:50 PM on May 20, 2018 [11 favorites]
A lot of cool stuff is true! But as of yet no proof that we're not alone in the universe. Which really sucks because there's some people on this planet who could use a reality check about now.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:55 PM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:55 PM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
psilocybin mushrooms on the other hand ...
they are also not octopus
posted by poffin boffin at 4:56 PM on May 20, 2018 [24 favorites]
they are also not octopus
posted by poffin boffin at 4:56 PM on May 20, 2018 [24 favorites]
I can’t remember where I read it, but I recall that someone proposed a new design for a door that would confound a human, but which could be opened easily by an octopus. It had three doorknobs.
Why that person was designing human-thwarting doors usable by octopi is worth consideration, but it probably had something to so with angling to be of future assistance in underwater sugar mines or something.
posted by darkstar at 4:58 PM on May 20, 2018 [30 favorites]
Why that person was designing human-thwarting doors usable by octopi is worth consideration, but it probably had something to so with angling to be of future assistance in underwater sugar mines or something.
posted by darkstar at 4:58 PM on May 20, 2018 [30 favorites]
The article claimed that Venus flytraps are only native to a certain area around a meteor crater in the Carolinas
they have a lot of trouble with poachers around there, since you can sell the plants
posted by thelonius at 5:20 PM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
they have a lot of trouble with poachers around there, since you can sell the plants
posted by thelonius at 5:20 PM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
This argument seems ridiculous and I can't see how they could have possibly got here from other arguments in this field, therefore I conclude that the authors are intelligent alien lifeforms. QED motherfucker.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 5:33 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 5:33 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
Tasty tasty aliens. Ñam
posted by omegar at 5:58 PM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by omegar at 5:58 PM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Why that person was designing human-thwarting doors usable by octopi is worth consideration...
I, for one, welcome our alien octopoid RNA-editing overlords.
posted by johnca at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
I, for one, welcome our alien octopoid RNA-editing overlords.
posted by johnca at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
Scientific studies have shown that you are never more than five feet from an octopus.
Other studies have shown that the average human swallows an average of eight octopodes a night while sleeping.
posted by tobascodagama at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2018 [19 favorites]
Other studies have shown that the average human swallows an average of eight octopodes a night while sleeping.
posted by tobascodagama at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2018 [19 favorites]
Andrew Thaler: An intelligence so alien to our own that we can't even begin to imagine what happens inside the spiral-shaped brain wrapped around an octopus's esophagus evolved right here on Earth.
That's a whole heck of a lot more awe-inspiring than "spaaaaace genes".
posted by pemberkins at 6:41 PM on May 20, 2018 [10 favorites]
That's a whole heck of a lot more awe-inspiring than "spaaaaace genes".
posted by pemberkins at 6:41 PM on May 20, 2018 [10 favorites]
Your mom’s an alien.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:53 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 6:53 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Seriously, people. I am disappointed. I have to wait THIS long for someone to invoke Betteridge? Seriously, I know the love the Blue holds for octopodes, but please please PLEASE don't let it blind you to the REAL laws the universe holds constant!
posted by Samizdata at 6:55 PM on May 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 6:55 PM on May 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
> octobersurprise:
"Your mom’s an alien."
Granted, she's a little odd, but don't be so xenophobic!
posted by Samizdata at 6:56 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
"Your mom’s an alien."
Granted, she's a little odd, but don't be so xenophobic!
posted by Samizdata at 6:56 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
headcanon accepted
posted by Hermione Granger at 7:30 PM on May 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 7:30 PM on May 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
The “octopuses are aliens” thing is a red herring — the claim is that pretty much everything is an alien, the octopus just being a somewhat more recent alien. All kinds of critters get rained down on us by space spores. Evolution on Earth happens, but evolution from SPACE is extremely common.
For that to be the case there must be huge overlaps between terrestrial fauna and extraterrestrial fauna, right? The whole thing evolving together. The Octopus showed up and has DNA like earth molluscs because there are such a thing as *space molluscs* so the whole “mollusc” clade isn’t really an Earth thing at all. Evolution takes place all over the galaxy, connected by a network of comets which apparently leap from habitable world to habitable world hoovering up critters and bringing them along.
;
“Octopuses are aliens” is small beans compared to all THAT.
It’s aliens all the way down!
Now, that sounds crazy, but if you think about it, it would totally explain why so many aliens in science fiction are humans with wrinkly foreheads. It’s because either humans were brought to earth via comets or else some of us hitched a ride on a passing comet bound for Vulcan, Romulus, or Q’onoS.
However, Star Wars suggests that the whole thing may be happening on an intergalactic scale, and human origins may in fact lie Long Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away....
COMETS, I TELL YOU
posted by edheil at 7:34 PM on May 20, 2018 [13 favorites]
For that to be the case there must be huge overlaps between terrestrial fauna and extraterrestrial fauna, right? The whole thing evolving together. The Octopus showed up and has DNA like earth molluscs because there are such a thing as *space molluscs* so the whole “mollusc” clade isn’t really an Earth thing at all. Evolution takes place all over the galaxy, connected by a network of comets which apparently leap from habitable world to habitable world hoovering up critters and bringing them along.
;
“Octopuses are aliens” is small beans compared to all THAT.
It’s aliens all the way down!
Now, that sounds crazy, but if you think about it, it would totally explain why so many aliens in science fiction are humans with wrinkly foreheads. It’s because either humans were brought to earth via comets or else some of us hitched a ride on a passing comet bound for Vulcan, Romulus, or Q’onoS.
However, Star Wars suggests that the whole thing may be happening on an intergalactic scale, and human origins may in fact lie Long Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away....
COMETS, I TELL YOU
posted by edheil at 7:34 PM on May 20, 2018 [13 favorites]
Did you know that the FDA legally allows a can of mushrooms to contain up to 19 octopuses? They’re also allowed to have up to 74 squid.
posted by glonous keming at 7:44 PM on May 20, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 7:44 PM on May 20, 2018 [16 favorites]
Did you know that an octopus's quack doesn't echo?
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 7:54 PM on May 20, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 7:54 PM on May 20, 2018 [20 favorites]
For example, Stedman said, the octopus genome was mapped in 2015. While it indeed contained many surprises, one relevant finding was that octopus nervous system genes split from the squid's only around 135 million years ago — long after the Cambrian explosion.
How is this dated? I'm having a hard time figuring out how they know this number. Is it based on an "expected" random mutation rate of base pairs?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2018
How is this dated? I'm having a hard time figuring out how they know this number. Is it based on an "expected" random mutation rate of base pairs?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2018
4th "nope" -- Viruses, ET and the octopus from space: the return of panspermia -- A major paper revives the oft-mocked theory that life on Earth began in a rain of cosmic microbes. (Stephen Fleischfresser for Cosmos Magazine, April 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
The peer-reviewed journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology recently published a most remarkable scientific paper. With 33 authors from a wide range of reputable universities and research institutes, the paper makes a seemingly incredible claim. A claim that if true, would have the most profound consequences for our understanding of the universe. Life, the paper argues, did not originate on the planet Earth.Fleischfresser goes into the history of the science, and some of the scientists who have co-authored this paper.
The response?
Near silence.
The reasons for this are as fascinating as the evidence and claims advanced by the paper itself. Entitled Cause of the Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?, the publication revives a controversial idea concerning the origin of life, an idea stretching back to Ancient Greece, known as panspermia.
The scientific orthodoxy concerning the origin of life is called abiogenesis. This suggests that at some point in the earth’s early history, conditions were favourable for the creation of complex organic chemistry that, in turn, led to the self-organisation of the first primitive life forms.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
they are also not octopus
Unless you eat the mushrooms first. Then all bets are off.
posted by y2karl at 8:49 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Unless you eat the mushrooms first. Then all bets are off.
posted by y2karl at 8:49 PM on May 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
/me reads the actual paper
leave octopi out of it, i am sure they can write a better scientific paper than this
obligatory pacific northwest tree octopus reference
posted by gusandrews at 9:02 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
leave octopi out of it, i am sure they can write a better scientific paper than this
obligatory pacific northwest tree octopus reference
posted by gusandrews at 9:02 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you put a Post-It note on an octopus' face it will run backwards frantically knocking over your furniture
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 9:24 PM on May 20, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 9:24 PM on May 20, 2018 [8 favorites]
As someone who's a big fan of mysterious lights in the sky, this is crazypants. Pre-cambrian biota is alien and strange, but originated right here on earth, and order Mollusca was gallumphing around in the mud with an armored shell on its back way back when, before the Cambrian Explosion.
It's been MORE THAN A HALF BILLION YEARS since then, and oh yeah, gene sequencing is a thing. We know when octopusses diverged from squid and cuttlefish (fairly recently, if your timeline is a half billion years). And there are squid and cuttlefish every inch as smart, inquisitive and social as your neighborhood Octopus.
This is doofus level of pseudo science. Everyone who signed their name to this should be out of a job on Monday.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:24 PM on May 20, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's been MORE THAN A HALF BILLION YEARS since then, and oh yeah, gene sequencing is a thing. We know when octopusses diverged from squid and cuttlefish (fairly recently, if your timeline is a half billion years). And there are squid and cuttlefish every inch as smart, inquisitive and social as your neighborhood Octopus.
This is doofus level of pseudo science. Everyone who signed their name to this should be out of a job on Monday.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:24 PM on May 20, 2018 [6 favorites]
FWIW, I stopped eating octopuses way back when we were discussing how intelligent they were.
posted by mikelieman at 9:43 PM on May 20, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 9:43 PM on May 20, 2018 [15 favorites]
Hey everyone, as a reminder if you have more than one octopus, you are dealing with octopodes.
Not octopi or octopuses.
Thank you and carry on.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:57 PM on May 20, 2018
Not octopi or octopuses.
Thank you and carry on.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:57 PM on May 20, 2018
Well I, for one, welcome our new cephalopod overlords.
posted by walrus at 10:11 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by walrus at 10:11 PM on May 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
Personally, I'm more adherent to the competing idea of "panspamia."
It posits that an alien species in the end-stage of capitalism attempted to spam the universe with precursors for intelligent life, in an effort to create more consumers.
As soon as we produce something valuable enough for them to want, the mothership will return and start hawking its wares.
posted by prosopagnosia at 10:21 PM on May 20, 2018 [18 favorites]
It posits that an alien species in the end-stage of capitalism attempted to spam the universe with precursors for intelligent life, in an effort to create more consumers.
As soon as we produce something valuable enough for them to want, the mothership will return and start hawking its wares.
posted by prosopagnosia at 10:21 PM on May 20, 2018 [18 favorites]
The idea of panspermia is just, so what? So life originated on other planets? Is that supposed to explain anything? You still need an abiogenesis event either way!
posted by dilaudid at 10:43 PM on May 20, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by dilaudid at 10:43 PM on May 20, 2018 [9 favorites]
Well I, for one, welcome our new cephalopod overlords.
Cephalopod overlodes.
posted by jjwiseman at 11:30 PM on May 20, 2018 [9 favorites]
Cephalopod overlodes.
posted by jjwiseman at 11:30 PM on May 20, 2018 [9 favorites]
octopoodle
Golden octolabradoodle
posted by pattern juggler at 12:15 AM on May 21, 2018 [8 favorites]
Golden octolabradoodle
posted by pattern juggler at 12:15 AM on May 21, 2018 [8 favorites]
Pansprrmia. Q: How did life originate? A: Elsewhere.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 12:25 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Pyrogenesis at 12:25 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
octopodes.
Does this mean a single point on a globe is an antipus?
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:20 AM on May 21, 2018 [5 favorites]
Does this mean a single point on a globe is an antipus?
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:20 AM on May 21, 2018 [5 favorites]
FWIW, I stopped eating octopuses way back when we were discussing how intelligent they were.
Yes, they know.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:13 AM on May 21, 2018 [7 favorites]
Yes, they know.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:13 AM on May 21, 2018 [7 favorites]
So peer-reviewed can also mean that your peers reviewed the paper and concluded, that it "cannot be taken seriously”.
Boom, you can now go to the media and claim it's been peer reviewed. Stupid, sexy science.
posted by Laotic at 3:52 AM on May 21, 2018
Boom, you can now go to the media and claim it's been peer reviewed. Stupid, sexy science.
posted by Laotic at 3:52 AM on May 21, 2018
Your mom’s an alien.
True, and my people also have a generous Law of Return. Hook up with me and I'm your key to getting off this increasingly-dismal rock. They're even willing to overlook your regrettable deficiency of podes.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:30 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
True, and my people also have a generous Law of Return. Hook up with me and I'm your key to getting off this increasingly-dismal rock. They're even willing to overlook your regrettable deficiency of podes.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:30 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ha! We just read this before for my book club yesterday. Octopuses are fascinating, even if they aren’t actual aliens.
posted by thivaia at 5:11 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by thivaia at 5:11 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
my people also have a generous Law of Return. Hook up with me and I'm your key to getting off this increasingly-dismal rock. They're even willing to overlook your regrettable deficiency of podes.
So...er...what’s the Internet situation like on their planet?
posted by darkstar at 5:34 AM on May 21, 2018
So...er...what’s the Internet situation like on their planet?
posted by darkstar at 5:34 AM on May 21, 2018
Re: DNA clocks. If I remember right, the focus is on errors in non-coding or structurally neutral base pairs. That's benchmarked against fossil cladistic estimates of when two different groups diverged, and preferably using dozens of species within each group. While there's plenty of wiggle room about how those clocks are calibrated, they generally support claims like "octopus and squid species are more closely related to each other than they are to clams." The alternative hypothesis is that some natural force managed to roll 1d4 hundreds of times to come up with something that not only is 90% identical, but has a similar function.
It's not particularly surprising that the letter that spammed P.Z. Meyers' department involved Lamarkism of the Gaps. While Darwinism can't explain everything, enabling the magic words of every science paper, "further research is needed to...," it explains so much using radically different forms of evidence that it's a bit like betting against Einstein these days.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 5:35 AM on May 21, 2018
It's not particularly surprising that the letter that spammed P.Z. Meyers' department involved Lamarkism of the Gaps. While Darwinism can't explain everything, enabling the magic words of every science paper, "further research is needed to...," it explains so much using radically different forms of evidence that it's a bit like betting against Einstein these days.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 5:35 AM on May 21, 2018
the pedantic plural would be octopodes.
E_PEDANTRY_INSUFFICIENT
posted by flabdablet at 5:38 AM on May 21, 2018 [4 favorites]
E_PEDANTRY_INSUFFICIENT
posted by flabdablet at 5:38 AM on May 21, 2018 [4 favorites]
Flabbed as fantastic, flandablet!
posted by darkstar at 5:43 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by darkstar at 5:43 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
I enjoyed the rising tide of crazy in this paper. It starts out arguing for panspermia, and as a nonspecialist it seems to me like a remotely plausible and exciting idea about bits of virus DNA being possibly transferred among planets by meteorite hits. But then the crazy starts to build; after a long delve into viral DNA and Lamarckian genetics that is impenetrable to me, they reveal that there's living microbial life inside comets, and all the cosmos is really one ecosystem. Cool! But, weirdly, that comet gunk happens to rain down out of the sky as red rain from time to time in one region of India. Finally we learn that it's not just microbial slime, but actual entire viable octopus eggs literally falling from space. I've been pranked, but I'm still left with a gentle afterglow of galaxy-brain in my 6th chakra.
posted by xris at 5:48 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by xris at 5:48 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
YOU WERE BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
YOU WERE BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
THE WHOLE TRIAL WAS BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
posted by Naberius at 6:22 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
YOU WERE BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
THE WHOLE TRIAL WAS BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
posted by Naberius at 6:22 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
Octopodes general, please.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:29 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:29 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
Octos-pode.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 6:45 AM on May 21, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Spathe Cadet at 6:45 AM on May 21, 2018 [4 favorites]
FWIW, I stopped eating octopuses way back when we were discussing how intelligent they were.
...me too, but started again when I found out that they only live for 3 to 4 years. I know that's not entirely defensible but they taste good.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:49 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
...me too, but started again when I found out that they only live for 3 to 4 years. I know that's not entirely defensible but they taste good.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:49 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's stunning how a paper by a group of well known cranks with no actual science in the paper can get this much coverage.
And by "stunning" I mean "horrifying".
posted by sotonohito at 7:24 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
And by "stunning" I mean "horrifying".
posted by sotonohito at 7:24 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
I heard this about Venus flytraps once. The article claimed that Venus flytraps are only native to a certain area around a meteor crater in the Carolinas, hence ALIENS.JPG.
That's just flat out untrue.
I know for a fact that they also live on the air in Cincinnati.
posted by srboisvert at 7:41 AM on May 21, 2018 [7 favorites]
That's just flat out untrue.
I know for a fact that they also live on the air in Cincinnati.
posted by srboisvert at 7:41 AM on May 21, 2018 [7 favorites]
From CheeseDigestsAll's link: The problem with the squid panspermia hypothesis isn’t that there is no proof, it’s that there is no evidence.
A distinction that many reporters in and out of the science beat could benefit from mastering.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
A distinction that many reporters in and out of the science beat could benefit from mastering.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
I plan on visiting Australia soon so I can finally see a duck-billed octopus. Perhaps I should travel to Mars instead.
posted by jenkinsEar at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2018
posted by jenkinsEar at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2018
> It's stunning how a paper by a group of well known cranks with no actual science in the paper can get this much coverage. And by "stunning" I mean "horrifying".
Meanwhile, try doing some careful science, and telling people "No it's not aliens" - sob.
(I'm procrastinating on grading my finals for Astro 2299, The Search for Life in the Universe.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:16 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, try doing some careful science, and telling people "No it's not aliens" - sob.
(I'm procrastinating on grading my finals for Astro 2299, The Search for Life in the Universe.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:16 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Nice little video about Cambrian mollusk evolution to squid.
posted by es_de_bah at 9:01 AM on May 21, 2018
posted by es_de_bah at 9:01 AM on May 21, 2018
Even the former leader of the United States of America, James Earl Carter Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, But it's been proven he only saw an octopus.
He was attacked by an octopus while fishing as well.
posted by Splunge at 9:18 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
He was attacked by an octopus while fishing as well.
posted by Splunge at 9:18 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
thus demonstrating beyond all doubt that these creepy little bastards are not just alien but commies to boot
posted by flabdablet at 10:10 AM on May 21, 2018
posted by flabdablet at 10:10 AM on May 21, 2018
So, it's amazing. Every time something linguistic comes up on the blue everyone goes 'rah rah descriptivism'. But then Octopusses come up and the thread is all octopodes this and octopi that. Which is nothing but prescriptivism in practice.
Not to mention it's not even consistently applied. Why do Latin and Greek words deserve to have their plurals preserved while everything else gets regularized? For ex the word 'mango' comes from the south Indian language Malayalam, 'manga'. The plural is also 'manga'. But who the hell goes around telling people that it goes one mango, two mango?
posted by Arandia at 10:57 AM on May 21, 2018
Not to mention it's not even consistently applied. Why do Latin and Greek words deserve to have their plurals preserved while everything else gets regularized? For ex the word 'mango' comes from the south Indian language Malayalam, 'manga'. The plural is also 'manga'. But who the hell goes around telling people that it goes one mango, two mango?
posted by Arandia at 10:57 AM on May 21, 2018
the pedantic plural would be octopodes.
E_PEDANTRY_INSUFFICIENT
I will never again use "rhinoceros." Who would, upon learning that "nasicorn" could exist as an alternative?
posted by nickmark at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
E_PEDANTRY_INSUFFICIENT
I will never again use "rhinoceros." Who would, upon learning that "nasicorn" could exist as an alternative?
posted by nickmark at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, it's amazing. Every time something linguistic comes up on the blue everyone goes 'rah rah descriptivism'. But then Octopusses come up and the thread is all octopodes this and octopi that. Which is nothing but prescriptivism in practice.
Because it's all an inside nerd joke here and no one is going to be denied a job or a diploma for not faithfully practicing a privileged mode of formal writing.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:06 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
Because it's all an inside nerd joke here and no one is going to be denied a job or a diploma for not faithfully practicing a privileged mode of formal writing.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:06 AM on May 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
I just enjoy irregular plurals and sometimes apply them to words they aren't normally applied to.
posted by sotonohito at 11:32 AM on May 21, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 11:32 AM on May 21, 2018 [5 favorites]
Irregular pluralae, surely.
posted by darkstar at 12:40 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 12:40 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
Irregularae plural.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:44 PM on May 21, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 12:44 PM on May 21, 2018 [4 favorites]
YOU WERE BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
YOU WERE BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
THE WHOLE TRIAL WAS BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
YOU GET A NEW OCTOPUS!
YOU GET A NEW OCTOPUS!
YOU ALL GET A NEW OCTOPUS!
posted by darkstar at 12:48 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
YOU WERE BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
THE WHOLE TRIAL WAS BROUGHT TO EARTH BY METEORS!
YOU GET A NEW OCTOPUS!
YOU GET A NEW OCTOPUS!
YOU ALL GET A NEW OCTOPUS!
posted by darkstar at 12:48 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am having difficulty finding a video clip of it, but I recall in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that Captain Nemo corrects Sean Connery’s plural of “Nautiluses” to “Nautiloi” in perhaps the only edifying part of that movie.
Captain Nemo is clearly a MeFite.
posted by darkstar at 1:09 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
Captain Nemo is clearly a MeFite.
posted by darkstar at 1:09 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
But who the hell goes around telling people that it goes one mango, two mango ?
Someone from Seattle who watches Frazier.
posted by y2karl at 3:03 PM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Someone from Seattle who watches Frazier.
posted by y2karl at 3:03 PM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Actually, the plural is nonapus. Or hexadecapus if you're being octopedantic.
posted by biogeo at 7:33 PM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by biogeo at 7:33 PM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
So...er...what’s the Internet situation like on their planet?
Free (as in beer and speech) and very fast.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:21 AM on May 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Free (as in beer and speech) and very fast.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:21 AM on May 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by Countess Elena at 3:58 PM on May 20, 2018 [9 favorites]