Bigfoots or Bigfeet?

I've been a big fan (for lack of a better word) of Bigfoot almost as long as I can remember. I was a kid during the 1970s, which I always consider to be the "Golden Age" of Bigfoot. For whatever reason it seems like more movies, documentaries, books and magazine articles about Bigfoot came out during the 70s than at any other time. Someone could point out the recent glut of terrible Bigfoot and Yeti horror movies that have inexplicably popped up in the past decade or so, but I can't really take all that stuff seriously. There has also been an uptick in more "serious" documentaries too, but I still think the 1970s really can't be beat for a time when Bigfoot was in the public eye and a part of pop culture.

The book BIGFOOT from 1976

My poster for "The Mysterious Monsters" (1976)

One of my early Bigfoot experiences came when my mother brought me to a retirement home where she went regularly to visit a friend. I stayed in the car (Volkswagen Beetle) while she went in. This was back in the days when kids sat in the front seats of cars without car seats, booster seats or even seat belts and no one blinked an eye. It was also a time when those unrestrained kids could be left in the car alone while parents went into stores and other places without those parents having their kids taken away from them by the state. Anyway, I was sitting in the car reading an issue of Boy's Life. This issue had an article about Bigfoot in it that I was very excited to read. Of course it also terrified me at the same time. It was a story about a big, burly trucker who went to sleep in his rig, only to be woken up by noises outside. A Bigfoot creature pulled him out of his truck "like a rag doll". I always remember that description. It seemed to make the story all the more scary to think that this big tough guy could be thrown around like a rag doll. To top it off, I had my Chewbacca Star Wars action figure with me. I had never really thought of it before, but in that moment Chewbacca reminded me a LOT of Bigfoot and I was even a little scared of my little 3 3/4" toy while sitting alone in the car.

I've been meaning to write a big blog about Bigfoot for a long time. But (like the piece I want to write about the show Creature Double Feature) it just seems like too daunting a task to undertake. There's simply too much to say on the subject. I have touched on Bigfoot, The Abominable Snowman and similar cryptid creatures a number of times in blogs like The Horror that is "Rudolph: The Red-Nosed Reindeer", Separated at Birth 2: Tim Tebow and Bigfoot, The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw and Isaac Asimov and "Monsters! Mysteries or Myths?" (from my other blog The TV Guide Time Machine). Eventually I'll get around to seriously writing about the big guy here. But until then I do have to ask one thing.

Despite the fact that I've been a follower of all things Bigfoot for nearly as long as I can remember (see story above) and have seen many movies and read many books on the subject, there's one thing that I've never really been sure of. When talking about more than one Bigfoot is it correct to call them Bigfeet? Or is it Bigfoots? Or maybe it's just plain Bigfoot (in a plural sense)? I don't know if it shares the same rules as Deer (pluralized as Deer), or if it's a case like Fish (which is pluralized as Fishes--at least I believe it is). Perhaps it's a case like Moose (are more than one moose called Moose, Mooses or Meese?). Octopus becomes Octopi (or possibly Octopuses--which brings to mind the old Roger Moore James Bond flick "Octopussy"). An Ox becomes Oxen. It would seem that a lot of animals in nature share a similar pluralization confusion. There are plenty of other examples of course. A Crisis pluralizes to Crises rather than Crisises. A Chassis remains Chassis when there are more than one of them present. Roof seems to be able to become either Roofs or Rooves. An Analysis becomes Analyses. This could go on for a while...

The point is that, despite having read and watched so much about Bigfoot and similar creatures, I still don't have a clear idea what the "correct" way to pluralize the word is. Does anyone out there have a definitive answer? I'd appreciate being enlightened. The knowledge might come in handy when I finally get around to writing my big Bigfoot blog!

Photo borrowed from the site North American Bigfoot

Now those are some big feet in that photo! But were these prints made by a bunch of Bigfeet, Bigfoots or Bigfoot? Hmmm...

Thank You