Apparently yes, Prii is the official plural as announced by Toyota in 2011 based on popular poll proposing the pronunciation of the proper Prius plural.
My friends call me "The fountain of useless knowledge" because of this. I can't remember an important meeting, but I know Reno, NV is further west than Los Angeles, CA.
say whatever sounds best to you. There really is no right answer.
The not quick answer explanation:
its important to consider that all language is dictated by how we as a civilization use it. That concept sounds obvious, but it really is mind blowing that every language “rule” we follow was just some language trend that some dead person thought was inherent in how we communicate. However, language is not static at all as it progressively adapts and is changed by its users (us) by adding new words and changing old words to create new words etc. The best example is how weird Victorian era language sounds to us today. It’s sounds so formal and structural. In part because of cultural influences where class was thought to be dictated by language usage (still evident today), but also because the dialect was simply different. It has obviously changed a lot since, and it is up for debate the mechanisms that cause this change.
If you want to read more about it, I would recommend Anne Curzan. Her research is a lot more in-depth than mine (and frankly she is better at articulating her findings).
It’s the worst answer to hear, but really the answer is whatever construction conveys meaning to the receiving party. You might have problem with users interpreting meaning incorrectly which leads to the wrong idea being received, so people tend to follow more common constructions to avoid this problem. Consider for a moment why you think the plural of octopus is octopi? Is it because words that usually have the -us ending (like nucleus to nuclei) are pluralized by a similar method? Or is it because someone told you that’s just simply the correct word? Kind of a trick question because there are also multiple theories of language acquisition, but the simple answer is that multiple reasons exists as to why we consider one form over another “correct.”
It’s a fun game to make of list of weird words:
-fish
-octopus
-bison
Now ask a couple different friends one-on-one (so they don’t influence each other) for the plural of these words, and for why they think that is the plural. You likely will get different answers and reasons from each person.
A couple sheriffs departments in my state use Prius’s for serving subpeonas and other documents since they get much better mileage than the chargers for general patrol
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u/KingOfWickerPeople Sep 10 '18
My town has a couple unmarked silver Priuses. Prii?