I also don't care for the new rules for pluralization of latinate words. I still think the plural of scrotum ought to be scrota, and the plural of apparatus ought to be apparati. I remember I got into a big argument with the GRS advisor over the use of the word apparati in my dissertation. So he whips out his Yuppie Dictionary and shows me how the New American Yuppie Dictionary or whatever that birdcage liner publication was to show me how it should be apparatuses. ignorant shallow yuppies running the country. What's next? Octopussies? Morons.
Viri instead of viruses? Feti instead of fetuses?
How about the genitive? Is it "the apparati's purpose" or "the apparatorum purpose"? Or better yet, "purpose apparatorum"?
By the way, "octopus" is Greek, not Latin. "Pus" means "foot" and the plural form is "podes" not "pi". The correct plural forms would be "octopodes" (almost never used) or "octopuses" (or "octopusses", as in the "buses/busses" problem), but not "octopi".
Your dissertation annoyance is sympathized with, however. My dissertation was changed to strictly passive voice to conform to the "proper" style. This change was resisted, but the decision was made to conform so that my degree could be received.
