Talk:Octopus minor

The name "nakji"

@Rhinopias: Hi! Nakji (낙지) is the Korean name for the species Octopus minor. This entry from the Standard Korean Language Dictionary confirms it. I'm adding the entry to the article so please don't revert again. --Comedora (talk) 06:43, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

Hi, Comedora. The dictionary entry might confirm that nakji is the Korean name for Octopus minor, but the article that uses the phrase "baby octopus" is equating the phrase to the food dish, not to the species of octopus. Putting the two together then doesn't necessarily mean that "baby octopus" = "Octopus minor", but both "baby octopus" = "sannakji" and "nakji = "Octopus minor" are true. I don't see "baby octopus" or "small octopus" on a Google translation of the dictionary entry, here. I see some websites that use "small octopus" instead of "baby", but this is all still in the context of the food dish.

I disagree with putting the name in bold as an alternative common name of the species. Whether or not people refer to O. minor as "baby octopus", that can't possibly be an intelligible name, as all octopuses of all species are "babies" at some point. Comparing it to Enteroctopus dofleini is silly… there are many species that may be bigger than this one and many more that are smaller. The picture of a specimen in this article looks pretty big to me. We could say it's referred to as "baby octopus" in the context of a popular Korean food dish, san-nakji but I don't agree with "It is sometimes called baby octopus" on this article. Maybe Octopus minor is called nakji in Korean and, in the popular food dish san-nakji, may be referred to as "baby octopus"? Rhinopias (talk) 02:32, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

@Rhinopias: Yes, maybe we don't need to put the name in bold. But I don't think the name "baby octopus" is associated with the specific dish. Nakji-bokkeum (stir-fried O. minor), for example, is called "stir-fried baby octopus" in these articles: [1], [2]. "Baby octopus" is apparently what English-speakers call this octopus when they see it in Korean dishes (And the octopus is most often seen in Korean dishes, of course.) even though they aren't actually babies. They are just small. And I think mentioning that this particular species of octopus is called "baby octopus" because of its size is important. Comparing it to Enteroctopus dofleini is not random, nor silly. E. dofleini is one of the three most common octopus species (along with O. minor and A. fangsiao) consumed as food in Korean cuisine, where the giant E. dofleini is considered the default of all "octopus". --Comedora (talk) 08:45, 4 May 2018 (UTC)