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[side_show]

So I had this huge party at my house, and as with any Canadian house party, hockey was part of the conversation.  One of my friends was commenting on how the party was so good she wanted to throw an octopus on my floor as a sort of benediction of thanks, and I didn't know what the hell she was talking about, so she explained, but I still didn't believe her.  She sent me this link today, and I thought I'd share it will you all, because nothing says good luck like an octopus.

The Legend of the Octopus.

[wombat]

Having read your interesting link I can't help but take this opportunity to point out that 'octopi,' while too well established in English to fight at this point, does not make any sense for the plural of this word:

Although it is often supposed that octopi is the 'correct' plural of octopus, and it has been in use for longer than the usual Anglicized plural octopuses, it in fact originates as an error. Octopus is not a simple Latin word of the second declension, but a Latinized form of the Greek word oktopous, and its 'correct' plural would logically be octopodes.

More from the OED website here.

This is a good example of why you should not try to speak English like it is Latin.

[jay-ell]

Having grown up 30 miles south of Detroit, I heard this legend so early and so often that when I moved south and found people who had never heard it was like encountering someone who had never heard of Santa Claus. 

It does seem to be very much a Detroit thing, despite several attempts by misguided Hurricanes fans (and others) to emulate the obvious heroes of the rink.  (Although I must say it's not the same since Scotty retired.)  I'm particularly offended by those who can't get their hands on a real octopus and instead throw a squid. 

Seems like somebody threw something emblematic of North Carolina on the ice during a 'canes playoff game, but I can't recall...a quick googling shows that an Oilers fan threw some beef in Raleigh, but seems like somebody either threw a pork chop or joked about it at some point. 

[Choop]

Damnit, omba, I can't tell if you're being descriptivist or prescriptivist. How are we supposed to have a proper language argument if your position isn't clear!


(+can for octopodes)

[Sub_Topical]

The octopussses (have at it, grammer sluts) tale is great but as far as playoff series and numbers Moses Malone and "Fo', Fo' 'n Fo'" is basically invincible.

[jaydub]

A hat trick is three goals by a single player;  supposedly  - indoor lacrosse has a higher scoring rate than hockey (or soccer) though so three goals (while commendable) aren't celebrated.  The Colorado Mammoth's fans celebrate a feat of 6 goals in a game by a single player as a "sock trick", and throw rolled socks onto the floor.  So far this hasn't spread much to other teams, but I think its a neat idea.

I'm pretty sure they only do it if its accomplished by a home team player though.

[wombat]

Damnit, omba, I can't tell if you're being descriptivist or prescriptivist. How are we supposed to have a proper language argument if your position isn't clear!

heh heh heh.

Forget grammar: here is a great story about the octopus I work with.

[jay-ell]

The only "octopus" I ever worked with was the guy at the restaurant who seemed to be "all hands." 

How cool, Wommie, that you get to work with famous mollusks.  He and Little P would get along -- they both seem to love Mr. Potato Head. 

[linnea]

Man, you damned Detroit Red Wings fans.

I'm from Colorado, so I'm all about the Avalanche (nee Nordiques).

[jay-ell]

Oh, no, linnea!  Now we have to  be enemies! 

gr.  grrr.  Nope, sorry, can't do it. 

But I still despise the Avalanche.  I have to, especially given that I live in the Carolinas now.  If you're a Hurricane, you've got to kick the ##### off of other natural disasters.  It's just the rule. 

[side_show]

Interesting how it's mostly us ladies talking about hockey, eh?

I will always miss the Jets despite their totally suck-i-tude.

Also, drunk people fighting with a sober person about whether or not octopuses get tossed on the ice or not is very surreal, especially when the sober one is the one defending the position that this thing happens in the real world. 

Also, this talk drove me to order calamari for lunch yesterday.  It was all the talk of rubbery sea creatures that did it.

[littlefallsmets]

Interesting how it's mostly us ladies talking about hockey, eh?

Actually, oddly, no.

Where I grew up, the men's team sport where you'd run into ladies attending of their own volition and with much knowledge the most would definitely be hockey.

I have no theory behind it, it could completely be a Mohawk Valley abberation of some kind but... hockey definitely always had a much higher concentration of women fully immersed in the game and not being dragged by a dude or just cheering for a friend/relative/etc... much more than football or basketball or baseball.

I guess you could extrapolate from the ice-skating part of hockey or from the much more "honest" violence of hockey but... I got nothin'. I don't believe it's a "cute guys" thing because... generally, hockey player dudes are the most bruised/mangled/lacking teeth of all the major team sports whereas... most baseball players/most basketball players/non-impact-football-position-dudes can easily maintain a handsome face while still playing their sports.

Any theories, achewomen?

[Nabubrush]

I just noticed this and had to get in on it - especially given the discussion of octogoogols in the other thread. Huge, huge Red Wings fan here. I'd like to point out a few things:

1) The quickest hat trick in the NHL was recorded by one Bill "Moshi" Mosienko of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1952, who scored three goals in a ridiculously astounding 21 seconds. I named my cat after him, but it didn't stick, mostly because my cat weighs 20+ lbs and as such is not very fast.

2) Darren McCarty (well known former Red Wings enforcer) once scored a hat trick against Patrick Roy in the third period of a playoff game in 2002. In the last game of that series, Roy was actually pulled, which spelled the beginning of the end for Roy, as he would play just one more year. Oddly enough, Roy was also pulled from a game against Detroit in 1995 after giving up 9 goals, which signaled the end of his career in Montreal. (I apologize to linnea for this item.)

3) Detroit just picked up Todd Bertuzzi. Yeah, I probably should have filled this one out a bit, but I just wanted to throw it out there. This signing is going to cause problems.

4) I, unlike almost every other hockey fan on earth, despise Peter Forsberg. (I apologize to linnea for this item, as well.)

[AugustWest]

(well known former Red Wings enforcer)

I know that "enforcer" is only a semi-official player position designation.  Also, I am a Southerner at heart, and from the days before there were NHL teams in Atlanta or Charlotte or Montgomery or Biloxi or wherever the fuck they are now.

But I gotta say...

Any sport that has a position called "Enforcer", even if informally, is OK with me.

[linnea]

Man, how the fuck can you hate Forsberg??

I can't believe that some of my favorite imaginary people are RED WINGS FANS. My little brain cannot cope.

Anyway, Sweet Milan, my folded-ear Scottish Fold boy, is named after the awesomest Milan Hejduk, who is a Czech who plays for the Colorado Avalanche. My little Mi-wan is so sweet and mellow, and he likes to sit next to me and get tummy rubs.



His brother Lennybruce is named for, well, Lenny Bruce. He totally lives up to his name. If he were a human he'd have a foul, foul mouth and be married to a stripper. He is the feistiest little dude around.