Octopuses are Cool (plus Tweets)

by | Nov 30, 2017 | Tweets | 29 comments

I was trying to think of something to write about for this tweets post from the plethora of topics available. However, I’ve got a cold, and I’m still recovering from a day Christmas shopping in Taupo with my mother, so my brain’s not working.

So in the meantime, I was gathering tweets to add to the post. I found the one in the Marine Tweets section with a cool video of an octopus. As a comment, I wanted to write, “Octopi are cool.” “Octopi” got a red wave line, which actually isn’t uncommon in WordPress even for real words. It happens a fair bit because I write in English and not USian.

That lead me to check my spelling of octopi, and I got this:

The standard English plural of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek, and the Greek plural form is octopodes. Modern usage of octopodes is so infrequent that many people mistakenly create the erroneous plural form octopi, formed according to rules for Latin plurals.

You learn something new every day. I was taught by multiple people that the plural of octopus was octopi. I never thought to question it.

There’s another one that I only realized within about the last ten years that I’d been getting wrong. I often said, “I felt nauseous.” What I should have said was, “I felt nauseated.”

There are a couple of others. It’s quite embarrassing when you like to think you have a pretty good command of the English language, and you’ve been screwing it up for years. Probably a whole lot of people had a good laugh behind my back, “She thinks she’s so clever but … .”

At least I don’t mix up your/you’re, there/their, bought/brought, and we’re/were.

Is this stuff important? It depends on the situation, as with most things.

And yes, that pic is two octopuses mating.

Political Tweets

The lack of foresight and long-term planning in the GOP tax plan makes me wonder if those designing it have any knowledge of economics whatsoever. As this cartoon says perfectly, it’s all about short-term gain.

 

That’s a turn-up for the books when it comes to the GOP.
(Via Ann German.)

 

I think this tweeter has hit the nail on the head! (See the Political Tweets section here.)
(Via Ann German.)

 

Hasn’t he got a country to run?

This was the White House response:

 

Human Rights Tweets

Leigh Corfman is a woman who was only fourteen years at the time when when she says Roy Moore sexually abused her. In my opinion, her allegations are credible. Until recently, Moore used surrogates to attack her. Now he has done so himself so Corfman has written an open letter to him.
(Via Ann German.)

 

These are some of the women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault.

 

 

Scary Kids Tweets

These tweets deserve a section all of their own!!!

 

What are those red things on the plate supposed to be? Tomatoes?

 

Mum’s scary too in this one. I wouldn’t drink juice poured by someone with that look on their face!

 

History Tweets

No comment necessary.

 

Art Tweets

I love watching this sort of thing!

 

Science Tweets

Cool machine! Of course, we wouldn’t need them if people just disposed of their rubbish correctly.

 

Other Animals Tweets

The third donkey thinks it’s so clever because it is!

 

Batman has found his match!

 

Reptile Tweets

Mama croc and her baby.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Marine Tweets

I wonder what it looks like to a seal?

 

Octopuses are cool!

 

Insect Tweets

What a gorgeous creature!

 

Bird Tweets

Lovely.

 

Very cool!

 

Ha ha!

 

Dog Tweets

That’s the way to do it!!!
(Via Ann German.)

 

People think this is funny! I feel sorry for the poor dog. He obviously has something wrong with his eyes, and it’s time his owner stopped throwing stuff at him and got him checked by a vet in case it’s something serious.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Isn’t this wonderful?!!!!!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Cat Tweets

This kitteh found a nice place to nest!

 

WOW!!! This is so cool!

 

Ha ha!!

 

Cute kitty.

 

Cat-eating fish? Catfish? Plot by alien fish overlords to steal all the planet’s cats? You decide.

 

What great looking cats! I bet they have heaps of character.

 

 

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29 Comments

  1. rickflick
    rickflick on 30th November 2017 at 4:51 pm

    A delightful collection of animal tweets!

    Reply
  2. Jenny Haniver
    Jenny Haniver on 30th November 2017 at 7:46 pm

    I’ve seen that video of the jaguar before, but every time I watch it I’m amazed, so glad to see it again. The fat kitty in the next tweet looks suspiciously like Maru, and the other cat has to be Hana, his long-suffering pal. She (Hana) has finally got Maru just where she wants him. This is the first time I’ve ever seen him bewildered in quite this way.

    I read in our local Berkeley, CA paper that Preety Misti, the chef you tweeted about yesterday is going to host a special CBD (cannabidol) dinner in her restaurant. CBD is one of the non-psychoactive compounds in cannabis, It is said to have numerous salutary benefits, including treating resistant forms of epilepsy. I also read that scientists in Australia are now re-seeding coral reefs with coral larvae, and it’s working.

    Reply
    • Jenny Haniver
      Jenny Haniver on 30th November 2017 at 8:23 pm

      Oh, yeah, love the donkey — are you familiar with the book, Platero and I, by the Spanish Nobelist, Juan Ramon Jiminez? It’s about a man and his donkey — for me a memorable book.. And those photos of old the old ads featuring those children are truly scary. I’ve got to find more of those.

      Reply
        • Heather Hastie
          Heather Hastie on 1st December 2017 at 7:21 am

          Wow! What a selection! I’m tempted to tweet some myself some time!

          Reply
      • Heather Hastie
        Heather Hastie on 1st December 2017 at 7:19 am

        I haven’t heard of the novel. I’ve got a genre of fiction I stick to these days and rarely move out of. Medieval mysteries. There’s enough good stuff to keep me busy given that I can’t read as much now for reasons I won’t bore you with.

        I think the account I got the those scary kids has had others in the past, so they’ll probably come up again.

        Reply
    • nicky
      nicky on 1st December 2017 at 6:33 am

      I note that Jaguars do not suffocate those Caimans, (unlike say what lions generally do with their prey), but bite straight through the skull. Badass indeed!

      Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 1st December 2017 at 7:13 am

      The reseeding of the Great Barrier reef was on our 6 o’clock news a couple of nights ago, but I’d already forgotten. Apparently it’s been done in test patches so far and, as you say, it’s working. Very cool. The government forked out big money for the test, so now they should be able to get more to do it on a bigger scale. Good news!

      Reply
  3. Mike Brogan
    Mike Brogan on 1st December 2017 at 2:13 am

    Octopuses, Octopi,Octopodes, really are cool,there was one on Blue Planet 2 being attacked by a Shark,indeed,it was in the mouth of the Shark, doomed ,you would have thought,but no! the clever bugger put its tentacles in the gills of the shark stopping it breathing and escaped,then it covered itself with shells and Stones,and looked like a lumpy ball, the Shark returned,nudged the Ball which then dissolved into a mass of shells and stones to confuse the Shark enabling our friend to escape.Clever ? more like bloody Genius.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 1st December 2017 at 7:26 am

      Spoiler alert! We haven’t had that episode in NZ yet! I love seeing stuff about how intelligent they are. I vaguely remember a saying about them being the Labradors of the ocean.

      Reply
  4. Lee Knuth
    Lee Knuth on 1st December 2017 at 6:10 am

    Great collection. I, too, love octopuses. Your description of the difficulties in the English language makes me admire even more those who learn it as a second language.

    Reply
  5. nicky
    nicky on 1st December 2017 at 7:07 am

    Octopuses are weird indeed, they are masters of camouflage, not just able to change their colours in a fraction of a second, but also the texture of their skin.
    Moreover, they are highly intelligent too (even separated arms appear to have their own life). Eg. they learn from observing other octopuses (and yes, they have ‘camera eyes’ like we do, but without ‘inverted’ retina’s -convergent evolution).
    This intelligence is somewhat enigmatic, because we ascribe much of intelligence to gregariousness and sociability. Octopuses are rather solitary, and they have no living parents (those die soon after procreation), but still surprisingly intelligent. Maybe our theories about intelligence (eg. intentional stance of conspecifics) are incomplete. I think we may learn a lot by studying octopuses.
    They are predators, but also heavily preyed upon (not least by humans).
    I love octopuses, in Afrikaans they are called ‘Seekat’ (sea-cat). They have very outspoken personalities too, so I’d like to propose them as honorary cats among the invertebrates.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 1st December 2017 at 7:29 am

      I’d go along with the honorary cats title. I agree they’re worth it!

      Reply
    • Jenny Haniver
      Jenny Haniver on 1st December 2017 at 12:08 pm

      The octopus as sea-cat. I like that. There’s a cat-like quality to octopussies, I think, so perhaps that’ll be my new plural.

      Reply
      • nicky
        nicky on 1st December 2017 at 4:48 pm

        Haha, I did resist that one! ????

        Reply
  6. Mark R.
    Mark R. on 1st December 2017 at 7:17 am

    Great tweets today. I didn’t know the Obamas got 16 Time covers. Trump might get one when he gets impeached, or to highlight the least popular, most dangerous and most ineffective POTUS in US history. Oh how I miss the days of credibility and stability.

    I think people should stop calling the GOP tax plan a tax plan. It’s simply a handout to their donors. It’s a giveaway, a scam, another immoral trickle-down abomination. To call it a ‘plan’ is sorely misrepresenting what it actually is.

    Man, those kids were very creepy indeed. What big eyes you have!

    Reply
    • nicky
      nicky on 1st December 2017 at 4:53 pm

      Note, Mr Trump and Mr Mc Connell and their ilk were kids when those adds were made, coincidence? ????

      Reply
      • Mark R.
        Mark R. on 1st December 2017 at 7:40 pm

        Yikes! didn’t connect that one. Those ads must have laid waste to all who saw them. I feel immune since I didn’t see the ads on an original cereal box.

        Reply
  7. nicky
    nicky on 1st December 2017 at 8:14 am

    Mr Mc Connell is a figure I particularly loathe, not kust because of his blocking Merrick Garland (eminently qualified to serve as a SCOTUS judge, contrary to Gorsuch) , but also of his turning the ‘lower’ judiciary into a cesspool of reactionary politics. There must be a special place in Hell for him -if Hell existed that is.
    He is a very ‘smart’ operator too, a dangerous man.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 1st December 2017 at 8:38 am

      I agree completely. He looks so mild-mannered, but so much of the evil of the government is down to him. The blocking of Merrick Garland was truly appalling.

      Reply
    • j.a.m.
      j.a.m. on 1st December 2017 at 6:24 pm

      He’s doing a thankless job right well under the circumstances. God bless him.

      Reply
      • Heather Hastie
        Heather Hastie on 2nd December 2017 at 12:04 pm

        The “God bless him” is jut to irritate us, isn’t it?

        Reply
      • nicky
        nicky on 2nd December 2017 at 10:57 pm

        I pointed out what I think he’s despicable for. Care to tell us what the ‘thankless job’ is he’s doing so ‘right well’?

        Reply
        • j.a.m.
          j.a.m. on 3rd December 2017 at 2:38 am

          By despicable, I assume you mean laudable. He’s gently herding cats toward the finish line in a new and unpredictable environment. He’s had some notable failures, but important successes as well (hence, “despicable”), including a huge win just this morning.

          Reply
          • nicky
            nicky on 3rd December 2017 at 4:57 am

            By despicable I do not mean laudable, but despicable. Herding what cats to which finish line?
            Be specific., as it stands you make little sense.

          • Heather Hastie
            Heather Hastie on 3rd December 2017 at 9:10 am

            His “win” this morning will be a disaster for the US economy. In fact, depending on how low the growth is, it could even cause another GFC.

            Perhaps it’s the only way to get the GOP to finally admit trickle-down economics is a fallacy. In the meantime though, millions of poor and middle-class people will suffer.

          • j.a.m.
            j.a.m. on 4th December 2017 at 2:27 am

            Wow. Simplifying the tax code and confiscating a bit less of Americans’ hard-earned bread will do all that? How do you figure? More to the point, what are you willing to bet?

      • Steven in Tokyo
        Steven in Tokyo on 3rd December 2017 at 1:23 am

        Oh, please go away and stay away. There is nothing for you here, and we aren’t buying what you’re selling.

        Reply

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