"Logic escapes me"

[Ron Gatrelle]

I often, probably most of the time, capitalize common names. Michael, just
do it.
Ron
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Gochfeld" <gochfeld at EOHSI.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: "Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX" <Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca>
Cc: "'lepsl'" <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2000 9:22 PM
Subject: "Logic escapes me"


> Norbert's "logic escapes me" may be the answer in itself. I think that
> numerical taxonomists may have sought some logic in nomenclature. A few
> committees have likewise tried to achieve some uniformity and select
> "best" names (e.g. NABA's common name committee), but for the most part
> it's whimsy rather than logic that dictates names. Describers can name
> organisms after anything they want as long as they spell it according to
> certain rules. Like Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor), now that's clear,
> especially since there is a Lesser Frigatebird too.
>
>  Which is a segue into my pet peeve----why aren't species' common names
> treated as proper nouns can captalized.  When an adjective is part of
> the name (like Common Wood Nymph) it is often unclear whether the
> adjective is merely descriptive or part of the name.  This is much more
> of a problem with birds which are often referred to as little or greater
> or brown-headed or russet-tailed.  But since the species name
> distinguishes a specific individual species from among 15,000-20,000
> species, it merits capitalization.
>
> Mike Gochfeld
>
>
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