Public Service Announcement

The correct plural of “penis” is “penes” or “penises”, not “peni” or “penii”. Likewise, the correct plural of “fetus” is “fetuses”, not “feti” or “fetii”. Just because a word comes from Latin and ends in -s does not mean you get free license to stick vowels on the end of it. Please forget everything you have heard about octopi and radii — Latin grammar is ridiculously complicated, and at any rate, we speak English, which means using a good old-fashioned English plural is always A-OK.

I just needed to say that, because I see it everywhere and it drives me nuts. The “greengrocer’s apostrophe” drives me nuts, too, but at least that one’s already been covered.

Thank you. You may now return to your regularly scheduled internets.

Tags: PSA, The Interweb