Re: Botanical Latin
Well, yes, this is always dangerous ground. In my work as a government
botanist, I find it more useful to encourage my colleagues and public
contacts to use scientific names, however they want to pronounce them,
rather than common names. One recent example involved a misunderstanding of
the differences among ryegrass--Lolium--(a nasty invader of wild lands,
especially if seeded for erosion control), cereal rye--Secale--available at
the feed store; and wildrye--Elymus--desirable as restoration material for
burned or otherwise degraded watersheds.
It's important to me to encourage people to use scientific names rather than
common names. I don't care anymore how they are pronounced. One can always
ask for the spelling.
A curse on common names!
-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Dills <cdills@fix.net>
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Saturday, September 11, 1999 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: Botanical Latin
> I'm not real sure why I'm jumping in here, but I would like to
>point out that pronunciation is important so long as it communicates.
> There are two situations. The first, professional discussions and
>seminars etc shouold use the "correct" pronunciation ()if that can be
>figured out)
> But for the rest of us, speaking in conversation, the
>pronunciation isn't all that important provide both parties agree about the
>plant they are discussing. To me "the correct pronunciation" is a bit
>academic (seems like there might be some kind of a joke there!).
> But it does make interesting reading. --Chas--
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> It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
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