Mollusk or Mollusc

John   Wednesday, February 18, 2004, 23:13 GMT
Which is the correct spelling of the word? The first one makes more sense to me so I would guess the first one.
Jim   Wednesday, February 18, 2004, 23:57 GMT
You would guess wrong ... no, you'd be correct enough ...

They're both correct in a sense just like "skeptic" verses "sceptic" and "disk" verses "disc". It all depends on whether you're using US or Commonwealth spelling. Whereas the Commonwealth spelling of each of these three words prefers the ones with "c"s the US spelling spells them with "k"s.

It seems that the word was first spelt "mollusque". Perhaps we could revert to this spelling and keep everyone (un)happy. Or perhaps we could use "mollusck". Or we could even use "mollusckque", like the title of the following site, check it out for some interseting "mollusc"-verses-"mollusk" trivia.

http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/mollusck.html
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 00:08 GMT
''Octopuses are mollusks'' seems to be more correct than ''octopuses are molluscs''.
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 00:10 GMT
About ''disc'' and ''disk''. A disc and a disk are two different things. A disc is a CD, DVD or CD-ROM. A disk is a floppy diskette.
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 00:20 GMT
Or why don't we just ask the mollusks how they prefer spelling the word? Biologists say that mollusks are the smartest invertebrates. How do octopuses want us to spell it?
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 00:23 GMT
No one would ever spell ''mask'' as ''masc'' or ''desk'' as ''desc'' or ''task'' as ''tasc'' or ''ask'' as ''asc''. Those would all look odd and ''sceptic'' looks like it should be a homonym for ''septic''.
Jim   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 00:34 GMT
I'm sceptical about that: "sceptic" looks fine to me but that's a good idea about asking the mollusques. A good friend of mine is a clam and she prefers "mollusque".
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 00:42 GMT
The main problem with having mollusk friends is that mollusks can't breathe in the air and mammals can't breathe underwater and humans are mammals.
I guess they usually say that vertebrates are smart and invertebrates are dumb, but some mollusks, ''especially octopuses'' are pretty smart.
Jim   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 02:45 GMT
Who says I'm human?
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 02:54 GMT
What then are you some mollusk that has an underwater computer, but I've seen on other pages that you were from Australia. So, you live in the ocean near the Australia continent. I've only seen mammals type on computers, never mollusks.
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 03:12 GMT
Humans are mammals. Clams and octopuses are mollusks. Humans are vertebrates. Clams and octopuses are invertebrates. Scientists say that mammals are smarter than mollusks.
Jim   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 03:56 GMT
Actually I'm a coral. I don't type. I have the internet connected directly to my central nervous system.
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 03:58 GMT
So, you're a cnidarian. Can you move? A lot of people think that corals like you are plants when they're really animals.
John   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 04:00 GMT
Do you live in an ocean near the Australia continent? You always say you're from Australia.
Adam   Thursday, February 19, 2004, 10:48 GMT
mollusc n. Zoology an invertebrate of a large phylum (Mollusca) including snails, slugs, and mussels, with a soft unsegmented body and often an external shell.


(According to my computer there is no such word as "mollusk."