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Colossus and Colossi - Page 4

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5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 01:51 GMT
#61
On November 18 2010 10:47 pxds wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:36 Honeybadger wrote:
Octopus.

(all of these are acceptable plurals according to the people who write miriam webster)

Octopuses

Octopi

octopods

Octopodes


Colossus -> Colossopodes?


well even if you were right i'd assume it'd be colossodes

though octopus is like that because it has a greek root

colossus is latin
Crushgroove
Profile Joined July 2010
United States793 Posts
November 18 2010 01:53 GMT
#62
OP... You are really really really misinformed. Colossus was a latin word... but before that it was Greek. Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossos) "large statue". When it was brought into latin it didn't gain latin pluralisms.

If you'd taken Latin at some point you'd be able to cite declension as cause for pluralization. Its a second declension noun.


nominative colossus colossī
genitive colossī colossōrum
dative colossō colossīs
accusative colossum colossōs
ablative colossō colossīs
vocative colosse colossī

But none of this matters. In ENGLISH..... the language we all SPEAK... Oxford and Merriam-Webster both agree that Colossi and Colossuses are equally correct.

But More important than ALL OF THIS...

There have been several (~10) threads on this already. It has been discussed at length. You are pointlessly spamming.
[In Korea on Vaca] "Why would I go to the park and climb a mountain? There are video games on f*cking TV!" - Kazuke
Tomer
Profile Joined June 2009
United States105 Posts
November 18 2010 01:55 GMT
#63
We should just call it colloxen in singular and plural. It would be more fun that way.
SichuanPanda
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada1542 Posts
November 18 2010 02:03 GMT
#64
On November 18 2010 10:55 Tomer wrote:
We should just call it colloxen in singular and plural. It would be more fun that way.


Lol. It sure would. In an amendment to my previous post it would appear that 3 out of 5 dictionary sites I went cite that the plural of Colossus is actually accepted as both forms (Colossi or Colossuses) depending on which English speaking country you are in. North America prefers Colossi while the UK and other English countries prefer Colossuses. Some area also use simply Colossus.
i-bonjwa
Pokebunny
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States10654 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 02:04:59
November 18 2010 02:04 GMT
#65
Is Colossi really properly pronounced with a short i in Latin? I've been taking latin @ school for 3+ years and always have pronounced/heard it pronounced as a long i, as well as all other second declension plural nominatives.
Semipro Terran player | Pokebunny#1710 | twitter.com/Pokebunny | twitch.tv/Pokebunny | facebook.com/PokebunnySC
holy_war
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States3590 Posts
November 18 2010 02:06 GMT
#66
Guys, not again! There was a 13 page thread created in August that argued over the same thing HERE.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 02:06 GMT
#67
On November 18 2010 10:53 Crushgroove wrote:
OP... You are really really really misinformed.
...
nominative colossus colossī


I may have been misinformed about what I quote next, but not about the declination. Infact the second one, as you too wrote, spells Colossus Colossi (singular / plural).

On November 18 2010 10:53 Crushgroove wrote:
But none of this matters. In ENGLISH..... the language we all SPEAK... Oxford and Merriam-Webster both agree that Colossi and Colossuses are equally correct.


Aside from the "we all", I would like to point out that it is not uncommon to use foreign words to name thing. Just for the "cool" sound of them. So Oxford and M-W are both unnecessary for those who prefear to think of Colossus as latin.
And by the way, my point was how to read the plural of colossus assuming you see the word as latin.
Subversion
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
South Africa3627 Posts
November 18 2010 02:08 GMT
#68
On November 18 2010 09:10 Dirich wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:03 aidnai wrote:
Nobody knows how to pronounce Latin 'correctly': it's a dead language. CollosAI is as good as collosIH.


Allow me to disagree. Actually, allow those that wrote the books on which I studied to disagree

Both ancient greek and latin are "dead", but it is well known how to correctly read them. Actually, we even know the differences in pronountiation between different ages.
Latin is still spoken by the christian church, altough in an evoluted form, and it was the language used by man of science up untill the beginning of the 20th century, so it was not exactly "dead".
Just two examples.

Even if you want to consider it dead, it really died not many years ago.


Did you just try lay a language smackdown while saying "evoluted" as if its a real word?
5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 02:08 GMT
#69
by a show of hands, how many of you, besides the OP, see the word as latin?
Pokebunny
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States10654 Posts
November 18 2010 02:09 GMT
#70
On November 18 2010 11:08 5ahj4g wrote:
by a show of hands, how many of you, besides the OP, see the word as latin?

A better question is, who doesn't? Doesn't your brain scream latin every time you see a noun ending in -us? lol
Semipro Terran player | Pokebunny#1710 | twitter.com/Pokebunny | twitch.tv/Pokebunny | facebook.com/PokebunnySC
Karliath
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2214 Posts
November 18 2010 02:09 GMT
#71
I NEVER want to see this thread again. Wasted 3 hours arguing about it last time it showed up...all the way back in July.
jeeneeus
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1168 Posts
November 18 2010 02:10 GMT
#72
How about this for an elegant solution?

No one will agree what is the "proper" plural form of Colossus. Whether or not the term came from Latin (-uses vs. -i) and no matter how people were taught to pronounce Latin (-aye or -ih, I myself was taught coll-os-aye), the point is, the way we use this word has no implication on anything other than Starcraft. The term is used by the Starcraft community for the Starcraft community.

So should not the pronunciation of this word be determined by the Starcraft community? I feel that it makes the most sense. As such, one of the greatest exemplars of the Starcraft community has already come up with a plural form of Colossus. I'm talking of course about Day[9] and his creation of "Colloxen."

Colloxen is my vote for what the overall community should start calling the plural of Colossus. In case it hasn't hit you already, the word was created by Sean "Day(nger)[9]" Plott, the Overmind of the Starcraft community.

Let's make Colloxen the real plural form of Colossus. HD already started using it in some of his casts.

My only worry about Colloxen is spelling. Colossus is spelled with one "L" and Colloxen is spelled with two. It could be Coloxen, but I think we all agree that looks pretty queer. But regardless of spelling, I think that's what we should all start using the word Colloxen.

The point is, we are all part of this wonderful community, and we should band together as one. We should all stand under the banner of Starcraft, united by our shared use of this word. And then redivided by race.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 02:11 GMT
#73
On November 18 2010 11:04 Pokebunny wrote:
Is Colossi really properly pronounced with a short i in Latin? I've been taking latin @ school for 3+ years and always have pronounced/heard it pronounced as a long i, as well as all other second declension plural nominatives.


Ok.. what's going on here?
A few pages ago someone wrote he was told that the -i in the 2nd declension plural nominative is read as -eye. Now you say you were teached it is read as a long -i..

I can assure you (7 years of studying it) that here in Italy we are teached the -i is short. And if italian is in any way a good counterproof, I can assure again that -i is short.

tofucake
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Hyrule19200 Posts
November 18 2010 02:13 GMT
#74
On November 18 2010 08:59 Dirich wrote:
First of all, it seems that most of the casters use the term "Colossi" when they are talking about more than one Colossus. Now, that's exactly how ancient latin works: 1 Colossus, 2 or more Colossi.

Or if it's genitive or locative singular, or vocative plural. So almost.

On November 18 2010 08:59 Dirich wrote:
So, since it seems we are talking "latin", the exact pronounciation of Colossi is not Coloss-"i", but Coloss-"e". Where by "e" and "i" I meant the way you pronounce those vowels when you list the alphabet.
Also, the "e" is short, not long. So the sound is like the sound of the "i" in fish, and not like the "ee" in tree.

No, it'd be "ee", but the way it's Anglicized, it's still pronounced like "eye".
Liquipediaasante sana squash banana
5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 02:16 GMT
#75
On November 18 2010 11:09 Pokebunny wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 11:08 5ahj4g wrote:
by a show of hands, how many of you, besides the OP, see the word as latin?

A better question is, who doesn't? Doesn't your brain scream latin every time you see a noun ending in -us? lol


no, if i see chow mein i think chinese, if i see taco i think spanish

however words ending in -us are so common i doubt people think about their roots

also as stated earlier, a -us ending is not necessarily latin

and yes, i'm hungry
mikeymoo
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Canada7170 Posts
November 18 2010 02:17 GMT
#76
Aaaaaaaaaaand the horse has been beaten.
Thanks for playing again, folks!
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