All About -us

Today my office mate Light Bright and I were talking about my pilgrimage to the taverns in Bottoms Up, and I wondered if it was all one pilgrimage or if each trip to a tavern was a pilgrimage in itself, and she said, “They’re pilgrimagi!” She was surprised to learn that you can’t just stick an i on the back of a word to make it a plural unless that word ends in –us. I gave her several examples, like syllabus – syllabi, or Christopher and his lesser-known brother Frank the Columbi brothers, and she tried to think of a word that ended in –us and could only come up with “horrendous.” I said it has to be a noun, and she said, “I don’t like all these rules!” She found a website that had this rule and some more examples, like asparagus – asparagi, and she said, “These aren’t as fun as my made-up words.” Then she wondered about Adidas, since it ends in –us. I said it may sound like it does, but it ends with an a and is already plural. She said, “This is why I’m so bad at spelling!”

Update: Light Bright and I have determined that the plural of bus must be bi.

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