Common names

[Sharyn Fernandez]

Sorry Charlie (or Michael) Disagree!
. Common names in how many other languages (esp. Japanese, for me)?! The
mind REALLY boggles. Please let's keep this as easy as possible, if Latin
is the main form, so be it; learning a little Latin goes far... translating
to 'lay terms' for other words is very enlightening for those of us who
haven't "learned Latin" academically...
As for disagreement among academics or lag-time in the use of Latin,
worldwide, maybe having a 'server" (Taxon?) would help; aren't their
international organizations that get together to do this - or is that too
mind boggling, as well?
-Sharyn

>I would argue that it isn't intrinsically more difficult to memorize the
>scientific name of this butterfly than to learn its common name. Some
>scientific names are daunting, but some common names are complex as
>well.
>
>But it is a flaw to assume that the scientific names are "better".  For
>example, looking at papers published a hundred years ago in northeastern
>U.S. I found that more of the common than scientific names had remained
>unchanged.  Thus at any point in time a scientific name may be the same
>in North America and Europe, but over time the meddling in systematics
>is reflected in dramatic changes in our understanding of species
>concepts, generic relationships, etc. Particularly at the generic level
>where there don't seem to be many "rules", it can be a free-for all.
>Have our European colleagues kept up to date on our realignment of
>American hairstreaks at the generic level????
>
>So it may be easier to learn two common names than to keep track of the
>evolving scientific names. ----if "easier" is a virtue.
>
>M. Gochfeld

Sharyn Fernandez
Concord CA
botany at flash.net