those things with 8 legs that live in the sea

This post will be about octopodes. One time I asked a linguist what the proper plural for "octopus" is (octopi, octopusses?) and he said that if we use the traditional Latin, it would be octopodes. I'm all about tradition, so I've adopted this word. Plus, it's a really good word.

Octopodes kind of freak me out. I've never met one, but I'm not sure that I want to. I don't even remember seeing any at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Maybe I was steered away from them because Craig knows that they are creepy and I am easily distracted by penguins. Maybe I did see them and I freaked out so badly that I blew the circuits in my brain that have to do with remembering that experience.

I think the main reason octopodes are not my friends is because there is this video that not many people have seen, but those that have, remember it. At a marine biology lab they had all sorts of sea creatures, probably used for tests that I don't want to know about. But their jars of "treats" kept getting mysteriously emptied. The scientists set up night cameras to see where the treats were going. What did they see? The octopus in the tank would get out of the tank, slink across the floor to the shelf, open the jar, eat a treat, re-screw the jar lid, slink back to his tank, and get back inside. Everything about that freaks me out:

a) he could live outside the water (for a few minutes)
b) he was mobile
c) he knew where the food was
d) he opened the jar carefully instead of smashing it
e) he reclosed the jar when he was done

I don't know how to describe my feelings for octopodes; it's not fear, as I can think about them without crying (not like cockroaches *shudder*). It's not dislike, because I am interested and oddly fascinated by them. I don't want one coming after me. I don't want them killed. I dunno.





ps - this post was inspired by Suzanne because she has a category on her blog just for octopodes and sometimes finds ways to mention them just so she can put her posts in that category.