Wednesday, October 8, 2014

World Octopus Day

8 October is World Octopus Day. 

First thing's first...what is the plural of Octopus?  

This is what Oxford Dictionaries have to say:

The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek and the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used. The plural form octopi, formed according to rules for some Latin plurals, is incorrect.

Secondly, why isn't October the eighth month? 

Well it did used to be, the Roman calendar used to start from March.  January and February were added by Numa Pompillius around 713 BC. He did this so there were more months with an uneven number of days - Roman's considered odd numbers to be lucky!

Thirdly - why are we so interested in world octopus day? 

...Because of our new display...the knitted aquarium which is stuffed to bursting point with knitted (and stuffed) see creatures, including a plethora of octopuses...

The display is to celebrate Wool Week 6-12 October 2014.  The pieces took 25 people from WoolnStuff five months to create.

Here is a sample of some of the woolly Cephalopoda:










Make a splash, come and dip your toe in, cast off to an imaginary world at Wakefield Museum.  Display is free to visit.

If you visit take a picture and Tweet us @WFMuseums.


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