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To remember to give yourself 24 hours before you react. If something bothers you, angers you, hurts you or disturbs you, remember you're not in a normal frame of mind, being put in an extreme situation. Stay calm, silent and aloof for 24 hours before you voice your opinion/act or react. If it still bothers you after 24 hours, speak about it maturely.You'll be surprised at how many relationships you'll save by not being impulsive in the heat of the moment. When you can do this, you're wise enough.

You know, this is actually a great question, one that I think a lot of people will be interested in learning the answer to. Finding out the plural form of the word octopus, though, is going to require a little linguistic detective work.So, you see, if octopus were an English word, the plural form would obviously just be octopuses, since it is a noun ending in ⟨s⟩ and, in English, the way you find the plural form of such a noun is just by adding -es to the end. Oh, if only things were that simple!The problem is that octopus is not a native English word and, traditionally, for words of foreign derivation, English has usually adopted the original plural form of the word from the language of origin. That is why, for instance, we have really weird plural forms like these:The plural form of syllabus is syllabi, instead of syllabuses, since it is a second declension masculine noun in Latin and the plural form in Latin is syllabi.The plural form of amphora is amphorae, instead of amphoras, since it is a first declension feminine noun in Latin and the plural form in Latin is amphorae.The plural form of phenomenon is phenomena, instead of phenomenons, since the word is a Greek neuter present middle/passive participle, which declines like a second declension neuter noun, and the plural form in Greek is therefore φαινόμενα (phainómena).So where does the word octopus come from, exactly? Well, in around 1817, someone apparently thought octopus was a Latin second declension masculine noun (like syllabus), because it ends in -us, which is the usual Latin second declension masculine nominative singular ending. That person, whoever they were, coined the plural form octopi.The problem is that octopus is not a Latin second declension masculine noun. In fact, it does not even originally come from Latin at all; it comes from Greek. The original Greek form is ὀκτώπους (oktṓpous) and it is a third declension noun. It is formed from the Greek word ὀκτώ (oktṓ), meaning “eight,” plus πούς (poús), meaning “foot” or “leg.” The word therefore literally means “eight-leg.”The only reason octopus looks like a Latin second declension masculine noun is because the Greek diphthong ου (ou) is usually Latinized as a long ⟨u⟩. Thus, the ending -ους (-ous) in Greek becomes -us in the Latinized form. (A similar case of this comes from the Greek name Οἰδίπους (Oidípous), which comes from the verb οἰδέω (oidéō), meaning “I swell,” plus the noun πούς, meaning “foot,” and therefore means “swollen foot.” It is usually Latinized as Oedipus, which looks like a Latin second declension masculine noun, but is not.)The Greek third declension nominative plural ending for masculine and feminine nouns is -ες (-es), so you would think the plural form of octopus should therefore be octopuses, like it would be if it were an ordinary English word, right? Well, that is where you would be wrong, because, in Greek, all forms other than the nominative singular are formed from the genitive singular stem rather than the nominative stem and the genitive singular form of ὀκτώπους is ὀκτώποδος (oktṓpodos).To get the nominative plural form, we take the genitive singular form and lop off the genitive singular ending to get the stem ὀκτώποδ- (oktṓpod-). Then we add the nominative plural ending to the stem, thus giving us the marvelous, delightful plural form ὀκτώποδες (oktṓpodes).Therefore, the correct plural form of the word octopus, if you want to be etymologically correct, would be octopodes.But wait! That is not the end of the story! You see, while English has traditionally adopted the original plural forms of foreign words, once those words enter into common usage, they often tend to be stripped of their original, foreign plural forms and supplied regular English plural forms. This is why, for instance, people usually say “areas” instead of areae, even though the word area is a Latin first declension feminine noun and the plural form in Latin is areae.Therefore, if you want to say “octopuses,” you probably will not be arrested by the grammar police or anything like that. The worst that is likely to happen to you if you say “octopuses” is pedantic and pretentious classicists like myself will be mildly disappointed in you for not using the correct Greek plural form. There are not many of us left nowadays, though, and we are dying off fast, so you probably will not have to worry much.So, in summary:Octopi is definitely wrong.Octopodes is the etymologically correct form.Octopuses is probably acceptable in most contexts, but classicists will be mildly disappointed in you if you use it in front of them.ABOVE: The Pedant, early nineteenth-century caricature by Thomas Rowlandson, drawn in pencil, ink, and watercolor

Studying for a project online, and NOT opening a single Quora or Facebook tab while you're at it!Try that! :P