I always thought it was cacti, but I just read an article where they used "cactuses"! I looked it up and apparently both are considered right:
http://grammarist.com/usage/cacti-cactuses/
Which do you use as the plural of cactus: cacti or cactuses?
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Whoa. Consider my mind blown; I always thought it was cacti!
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Ooooo cacti here! Cactuses sounds funny.
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I would definitely say cacti! Cactuses sounds to me like when DH and I jokingly say "shrimps".
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Huh, I've always been in the "cacti" camp we well.
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I say cacti!
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When I went to college in Arizona everyone said cacti.
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I say cacti too! I'm a copy editor, so this would be a style choice I'd record on a style sheet, so that I would use that form throughout a document. I'd say cacti would be used in most formal publications and cactuses would be used in those that are less formal.
I would assume that more and more people started using cactuses in everyday English, so it has become more and more accepted as an alternate form.
Language is fun!
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I took Latin in HS so I say cacti.
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@Mrs. Jacks: Latin FTW! I started in 8th grade and took it all the way through college (I have a BA in Classics).
I'm definitely in camp cacti.
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@MamaMoose: It was seriously the best leg up I could have ever given myself (though I totally didn't know it at the time). I'm so happy for my years of Latin!
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I also say cacti.
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Cacti!
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I say cacti. because:
Better watch out for those killer cacti...Heyyyyy dude! -
Interesting - I was taught cacti!
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@spaniellove: Haha, DH and I like to say 'gooses'. We know better, but it's funny
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Never heard of cactuses! Another cacti.
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Cacti!
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Here in AZ where we have them everywhere, the majority of people just say cactus for both singular and plural.
As in: "Ooops, I fell in a cactus" and "Wow, that's a lot of cactus out there, don't fall in it"
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I thought cacti.
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I think a lot of things people think end in i for plural forms are actually not.
Mooses. For example. Although, Moosi sounds soooooo silly. lol
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I use both. I always thought cacti was correct, but I do use cactuses as well. But also, i agree with @lemondrop: that we sometimes just say cactus for one or many. LOL
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I've always said "cacti," since cactuses sounds weird
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@dagret: Exactly what just popped into my head
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@dagret: I was thinking the same thign!!!!!!! hahah!
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Cacti. Why? Because that's what Homer Simpson says and it has stuck with me.
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Cacti!!
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Cacti!!!
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27 comments