At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

FROM THE PAST - OCTIPOS

C. Rafinesque (1783-1840) reported this creature.  He said it was seen in the Atlantic in 1818.  It had 8 gills, its head was 2' in length and its body 56'.  Presumably, with a name such as that, it had eight feet.

Rafinesque
Rafinesque himself was a somewhat extraordinary character, self-educated, fluent in Greek and Latin.  There is some suspicion that he forged the Wallum Olum which claimed to be a traditional record of the Delaware Indians.  

 Turning from the Octipos to the Octopus, this his a word that causes confusion in English when it comes to pluralizing it.  The plural should be octopuses or octopodes (4 syllables), but not octopi.  This is because it comes from Greek, not Latin.

 For the same reason, the correct plural of Hippopotamus is Hippopotamuses and that of Rhinoceros is Rhinoceroses.
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