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"Helices". I don't see how it's a "rhetorical" question though.

Bother me? You didn't bother me. I just answered your question, and expressed doubt that it was actually the sort usually described as "rhetorical".

As I understand it, a rhetorical question is one asked more to make a point than to get an answer. For instance, suppose a jerk posted on this forum to say "all newbies are awesome dudes". A clever retort would be "when you were a newbie, were you an awesome dude?" No answer needed from the jerk -- the point that everyone was a newbie once has been made. That would be the sort of thing usually meant by "a rhetorical question".

So, asking what the plural of some word is, when you don't know, just seems to me to be an ordinary question rather than a rhetorical one.

Anyway, hope that helps.