Fw: Re: common names
Michael Gochfeld
gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu
Fri Apr 20 22:42:01 EDT 2001
In my teens and twenties I found I could learn the scientific names of
birds and flowers with great ease. I could recite virtually all North
American and about a third of the South American bird names. I was
particularly fond of Euscarthmus margaritaceiventer (which I recently
saw in South America, albeit now under a different generic name and
perhaps split as well). (Don't worry, the common English name hasn't
changed).
In my fifties I found it extremely difficult to learn the scientific
names of the 150 butterfly species found in NJ, even though writing a
book focused my attention over and over again on those few species.
Are the names of butterflies intrinsically more difficult or
meaningless than birds (maybe? all those Indian chiefs don't lend
themselves to Latinization).
Or maybe it has to do with the number of synapses. Or as a New Yorker
columnist once said, by the time you are fifty your brain is just full
of useless information (I think he mentioned the words to Volare as an
example). He suggested downloading excess memories into the stomach
region which has usually expanded substantially by that age.
Mike Gochfeld
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