common names vs technical names

[Michael Gochfeld]

Although I agree that Chrysanthemum can be learned, I'll bet you that 
90% of the time they're referred to simply as "mums" (or even as 
Daisies"). 

Although at one time I knew the scientific names of all North American 
birds, I find that with advancing age I simply cannot learn or retain 
the names of even all of New Jersey's 150 butterflies.  I don't think 
it's the pronunciation so much that's off-putting, most of us who know 
scientific names pronounce at least some of them incorrectly, anyway  
I'm not sure that classical scholars would agree on the pronunciation of 
Latinized Indian chiefs' names. 

Moreover, I could argue that there's not much point in learning 
scientific names, because sooner or later they will get changed by some 
revisionist (we've discussed this previously). 	Whatever the reason, 
common names are here to stay.  Even molecular biologists----the 
ultimate scientists??????? wouldn't know (or care) that they are 
producing "knock-out" Mus musculus (which is an obtuse way of saying 
that scientific names may not really be scientific anyway). 
(That's today's opinion----tomorrow I'll probably feel differently). 

Mike Gochfeld