Cynthia, Hybrids and Genera.

[Chris J. Durden]

Ken,
    What is the Inuit word for butterfly?
...............Chris Durden


At 03:04 AM 11/11/2002 -0900, you wrote:

> > Has anyone ever tried to find out why this is - our _need_ to name
> > (delineate) things?  Somebody probably has.  This is a universal
> > "instinct" that is not suppressible in humanity...
>
>There are two fairly obvious factors involved:
>
>1) All animals have to be able to find things they need (food, shelter,
>mates, etc.) and avoid things that are dangerous.
>
>2) Humans have language, so they construct words for things rather than
>having to point to everything all the time.
>
>         By the way, this works only up to a point. If items are not per-
>ceived as being useful or dangerous they may be ignored. Many years ago
>I asked an Eskimo at Anaktuvuk Pass about their words for butterflies.
>He said they had a word for 'butterfly', but no words for the different
>kinds of butterflies. They didn't eat them, or make things from them,
>so had no interest in the kinds. It looks as if taxonomy may have started
>as a strictly utilitarian process.
>
>                                                         Ken Philip
>
>P.S. Before someone brings this up, I gather that Eskimos have no more
>words for snow than Europeans have--that claim is another 'factoid'
>which will continue to be quoted and believed regardless of the facts.
>
>
>
>
>
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