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Octopus – Val’s Word of the Day

While writing a review of a restaurant I’d recently eaten at, I enjoyed a laugh-out-loud moment.

As I described the food we ordered, I got stuck on the spelling of octopus. It took several tries before it dawned on me how close it was to “ocho” the Spanish word for eight. How can it be that I never made that connection before? Everyone knows an octopus has eight of those creepy sucker tentacles. BTW, I didn’t order the octopus although I will eat calamari.

Just for fun, what do you call more than one octopus: octopuses or octopi.

So I wondered what the Spanish word for an octopus was, certain it would start with ocho. I wasn’t even close. The Spanish word is el pulpo. El pulpo also has other meanings. The most interesting is: a person who is “handsy” and touches others in an annoying manner.

Here’s to eating el pulpo and not meeting el pulpo!

octopus