Hinterland Grapevine - Pity the poor journo when there?s more than one platypus in the creek

The Duck Billed Platypus, scientific name Ornithorhynchus anatinus, which literally means ?birdbeaked ducklike?.    An egg laying amphibian mammal.    Is The Almighty playing a trick on us?    Either way it shows they have a sense of humour in creating this fascinating species.    And writing about them is great ... except when there?s more than one, just as reports indicate at the Obi Obi Creek site.

To be, or not to be? Never mind that, Hamlet. I say to platypi or platypuses? Umm ?    Don?t worry readers, I haven?t hit the sauce mid-week! What I refer to is the choice of pluralisation for this animal, a matter first brought to TRN?s attention by the editorial prowess of Neil Lovett.

He said according to the Pam Peters fine volume The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide those who pluralise this word as platypuses are taking the most sensible course in a linguistic dilemma ?    Pam?s guide states that as a hybrid word, it was created in the nineteenth century out of Greek elementary ?platy? meaning ?broad? and ?pous? meaning ?foot?, with the second one Latinised as ?pus?.

And thus, this second ending has encouraged the idea that it deserves a Latin plural ?platypi?, which is entered as an alternative in some dictionaries and favoured by this writer because it is easier to pronounce and means you tap less keys! But the plot thickens ?

According to Pam, choosing the right plural is the point of a story told by Stephen Murray- Smith about an Australian Professor of classics who was asked whether the plural of platypus was platypi or platypoi.

?That,? he replied, ?shows an ignorance of three languages.?    Presumably he meant that the Latin ?platypi? was wrong because the word is essentially Greek; and that the Greek ?platypoi? puts it into the wrong declension, the style guide quotes.

And by the way, if you?re really going Greek, you need ?platypodes?.    Above all, it was a mistake to bypass the standard English plural for a word which was coined in English anyway don?t you think?

And while we?re at it, please note that conservationists and protestors might use a zero plural for the word? i.e. ?Could the number of platypus in the Obi Obi Creek decline if Woolworths builds??    As an impartial news editor, I?m not touching that one with a twenty foot pole ?

Either way, pity the poor journalist and editor when there?s more than one platypus.

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

Sponsors