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7:11PM
Jul-28-08
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John Dalbec
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I often hear a similar mistake – "vertice" for "vertex". I think you do give too much credit by hypothesizing a borrowing from French. They're just treating "indices" or "vertices" as an English plural and back-forming a singular. By the way, the pronunciation of "indice" in French is closer to "ann-deese" than "on-deese".
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12:17PM
Jul-29-08
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ken
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I'm the caller who asked the question. I agree with you, John. I wonder if people also do this with "matrix"/"matrice."
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2:37PM
Jul-30-08
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martha
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Well, Ken, I just want you to know that I thought of you yesterday when I was giving a talk in front of a large group of attorneys. At one point, I alluded to the obitofrontal cortex of the brain, then heard myself blurt, "In people whose orbitofrontal cortices have been damaged — oops, is it cortexes or cortices?" and then stumbled a bit, realizing I didn't know. So thanks a lot, Ken! 
Looks like it can be either one. And John, I agree it's quite possible that it's just a natural formation by analogy.
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1:39PM
Aug-01-08
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ken
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…and the singular is then "cortice."
Great story, Martha. I'd be stumbling on "orbitofrontal."
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7:42AM
Aug-02-08
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martha
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I'd be stumbling on “orbitofrontal.”
Believe me, I did! So of course I got completely tangled up with "orbitofrontal cortices"!
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7:25AM
Aug-05-08
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Grant Barrett
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I mean to post this before: a long look at redices and indices, which is a bit far afield of our topic but still interesting.
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4:19PM
Aug-06-08
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Heather
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Yes, I actually had a teacher in high school who would ALWAYS refer to several matrices, or one matrice! Pronounced similarly to "indice" that the caller referred to.
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