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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