A minor correction - for Cactus and Succulents Forum

Shouldn't it be Cacti and Succulents instead of Cactus so that both are plural?

Jeremy -- the grammarian gardener

Chuckle. Here's the thread: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/356749/

Terry - the archiving gardener ;o)

I never noticed that. That's funny. And it's even funnier that it escaped Terry's attention!! LOL

Well, I read the thread Terry, and I agree with Dave's comment that they both should be plural or both singular. ElJefe's comment aside recommending "cactus" instead of "cacti," we can't discuss more than one species of a cactus without the collective group being referred to as cacti. It is like fish -- a group of one single species is fish, but as soon as you mix a mullet into a koi pond, you have fishes!

Do I need a life?

Jeremy

So is everyone okay with Cacti?

Yep, I'm good with that. But then I have been in so many parts of the country, my grammar ain't all that good anyhow.

Yall

Molly
:^)))

LOL. Cacti works Terry. Molly, you sound like me!

Oh, please, Terry, change it to Cacti so that I can again sleep at night! The worry about the culmination of this impending important decision is driving me nuts!

LOL

Jeremy

I agree - change it to "Cacti." However, you'll NEVER get newspapers to use that word in any form. All of them use "cactuses" for the plural of cactus, which I think is horrible.

Marilyn

I agree with the change as well, actually I'm the one that sent Jeremy here to request it. :)

Well, it's a good thing you showed up Mystic. Jeremy was taking all the credit. LOL

:o)

All the credit.... and the blame! I mentioned the cactus/cacti pet peeve to mystic in one of my frequent nit-picking Plant Files corrections, and was sent here because such crucial matters dealing with forum names were beyond mystic's authorized garden plot duties.

By the way -- I learned in Master Gardener training that a thrips is a single bug -- so if you have more than one thrips do you have thripses? My dictionary is not handy to look it up.

Jeremy

I've always heard them called thrips (when there are many of them...don't know too many people who just have one!) so I always assumed the singular was a thrip, but if that's not the case then I think this is one of those ones where the singular and plural are the same.

Thripsi?

My thoughtsi exactly.

:^))))

...giggling on my way out...

It's the same for both

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrip

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/web?query=%27plural+of+thrips%27&isinit=true&restrict=wholeweb

In this case, I think I will choose to be grammatically incorrect and call them thripseses. The name would be far longer than the little suckers that are trying to destroy my Ficus benjamina. LOL

Jeremy

Masculine, plural, first declension, maybe?
thripsae, thripsarum, thripsis, thripsas, thripsis, thripsae.



It could get tricky with cactus, too: cacti, cactos, cactorum (my favorite), and cactis

Or not. :)

I like all of the above, claypa! I will probably use them interchangeably to deal with any collection of thripsicums.

I saw an answer on "Jeopardy" tonight that I thought was all wrong. I'm posting my huffy disdain for the answer in the Cactoruses and Succulents Forum.

Jeremy

LOL.

I don't care what you name it....and my friend, ElJefe (David Eppley) passed away about 2 years ago. He was a GREAT expert on CACTI. Jp

As the book said 'Cacti & Succulents'...