[Klug-general] Virii?

[Mike Evans]

Philippe Yates wrote:
>> Linux is only really more secure at the moment because there are no
>> active Linux virii or Linux spyware.
> Am I the only one to find using "virii" as a plural for virus bizarre?
> In English it would be usual to write "viruses".

I seem to remember from a BBC documentary from my teens (which is so 
long ago as to be almost incalculable) that Virus is already a Latin 
plural.  This leads non Latin scholars (like me) into the mire. 
(Although I would have thought that Philippe would have plenty of Latin 
scholars to hand.)

The programme was called something like "Attack of the Virions".  Virus 
being plural, Virion or something like that being the singular in Latin. 
  Clearly even BBC pedantry was not enough to either educate or convince 
the masses.

While we're at it the same is true of Octopus/Octopii:

Pus = feet
Pod = foot

Octopus - English and Latin singular meaning 'eight feet' or 'eight footed'
Octopuses - English plural
Octopodes - Latin plural if I remember correctly.

English is, however, a creole language and therefore grabs things from 
other languages and adapts them without regard to rules.  Unlike French, 
we have no equivalent of the Institut français. Fowler's Modern English 
usage is always an amusing read regardless of whether you fall into the 
pedant or rebel camp.

Mike