Do you know what a stylus is? For those who don't know, it's that pen-like doohickey you use to write on the screen of your palm pilot.
I was putting some away tonight while working in the electronics department of the soulless retailer that employs my sorry ass. Actually, I was putting away a three pack but the package still said STYLUS. So I wondered if the plural for Stylus was STYLI or if you say STYLUS whether you have one or twenty-seven thousand.
I asked my best friend what he thought and though he did not know he speculated on the possibilities briefly before being interrupted by another employee. We had never seen this guy before, but that isn't so strange since he works a completely different shift than us. He interrupted my friend saying " it's status.... statuses... status..." He spent the next several minutes wandering around the department muttering the word status over and over.
It was a little disturbing... enough so that for all intents and purposes it may have been the most disturbing thing I've witnessed in days.
One thing about this story that kind of bums me out is that this is the kind of thing I could ask my brother. Most likely he would know the answer... if he didn't he would discover it quickly enough, only to explain it back in a way that makes even the most mundane interesting.
My bro is great at explaining anything and everything. And since he has such broad interests (
3 comments:
Aw shucks! Yer makin' me blush!!
But you're right: styli is preferred, although styluses is acceptable as well. I personally quite enjoy making pseudo-Latin plurals where they *don't* belong just to get a rise out of uptight people. My current favorite is alii.
--- It was a little disturbing... enough so that for all intents and purposes it may have been the most disturbing thing I've witnessed in days ---
Genius, man. As I started reading, I was thinking, "I wonder what gem Jeff is going to weave into this entry," and voilà! Intensive purposes!
The best part is that it was just another nondescript railroad car in your train of thought. (Metaphorically speaking, of course. Because words can't be railroad cars. Trust me on this one. I've been trying to turn words into railroad cars for over 27 years, and believe me when I tell you that no matter how many engineer costumes you buy, it just can't be done.)
I have discovered a new pseudo-Latin plural that is even funnier to me than alii: dufi
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