#20 - SCIENTIFIC NAMES

Tuesday night's Blog #18 was a list of "pet" peeves. Of that list common names and incorrectly written scientific names certainly rank high among my irritants. In the third issue of ARACHNOCULTURE magazine my "Back Page" article was titled "Dead Languages and Dumb Names". I thought I'd revisit that here with a few revisions and additions to bring it up to date and hopefully drive the points home.

DEAD LANGUAGES & DUMB NAMES

Common means a lot of things.
Shared. Abundant. Generic. Frequent. Usual.
When I lived in the US south, "common" is often used to describe someone without tact or manners of any kind, like your neighbor who urinates outdoors behind his shed when he's out mowing the lawn.
Most people don't want to be common.

When it comes to naming creatures, authors have to be different.
That is, they not only have to use a unique name, but they have to follow rules.
And they can't create a name that is shared, abundant, generic, frequent or usual.
There is only one Homo sapiens. Well, actually there's about 6 billion of the buggers, but that's a whole different story.
The point is that there is only one organism that the name Homo sapiens refers to, even though you may call that organism "human", "man", "person", "cretin" or "mother".

Arachnids are also given unique names.
My favorite arachnid is called Poecilotheria subfusca.
No matter what language a person speaks and what word that person's language uses for tarantula,
Poecilotheria subfusca is understood to be a distinct theraphosid spider.
Everywhere. Anywhere.

But leave it to us Americans to throw a wrench in it all; muck it up as the Brits would say.
We're allergic to systems that make sense. Remember that metric thing?...
We use "common" names, even though there is nothing common about them.
In the rest of the world, hobbyists embrace the universal language of binomial nomenclature - the scientific name.
No, and allow me to stress this part, it's not a "Latin" name.
Many are "Latinized", but scientific names are also often derived from Greek and other languages, names of people, geographical areas and a bunch of other words.
Latin names are probably what ancient Catholic priests called one another or the boys they buggered.

So why do many hobbyists, particularly in the United States, have such an aversion to the scientific name?
My experience has shown that it comes down to wrongly believing they are complex and confusing, and an apprehension to pronouncing them.
Well, let's dispense with the latter swiftly; say the names phonetically and most everyone will know what you mean.
In other words, don't worry about it.
If you're a Canadian speaking to a Romanian you're going to pronounce everything differently.
As long as you can utter the correct scientific name in any manner, chances are you'll be understood.
Some names are "Latinized" and Latin is a dead language.
Even scholars don't agree on pronunciation.
Sound it out, listen to how others pronounce them and, when in doubt, accent the second to last syllable.
That's it.
(Well, and don't forget when writing that genus names are capitalized and species names begin with a lower case letter).

This last point is crucial. Specific epithets (species names) are all lower case. Why is this so difficult for people to learn? Poecilotheria subfusca or P. subfusca, but NEVER P. Subfusca. Since I wrote the original version of this rant we've all had smartphones glued into our hands. We focus on little else. But these phones aren't as smart as Apple and Samsung would have us believe. They don't know when you are writing a scientific name. If you type a period (i.e., dot) the keyboard will automatically switch to uppercase thinking you are starting a new sentence. You must take the two seconds to backspace, delete, and turn off the upper case before preceding. Don't be lazy. Typing on your phone is all you do. What's a few more keystrokes? Want to know a shortcut? Train yourself to leave off the period after the abbreviated genus. Just type P subfusca. That's why I often do. Clever, huh? Why is it that the majority of people you see posting on Faffbook and even dealers who type up sloppy lists still capitalize species names? What's even more aggravating is that some dealer lists have a mix of properly written and improperly capitalized species names, not to mention plenty of misspellings. Sloppy work disgusts me. Laziness is atrocious. These dealers are representing themselves to potential clientele. If they can't be bothered to spend time reviewing and editing don't bother them with your sales!

And what about this supposed complexity and confusion?
Which is more complex: the "giant Cameroon reddish-brown baboon spider" or Hysterocrates gigas?
Especially since Hysterocrates gigas is Hysterocrates gigas in English, French, German, and Dalek (whether it is actually that species or not, which is a whole other can of worms).
"Giant Cameroon reddish-brown baboon spider" could also be araignée brune rougeâtre géante de babouin du Cameroun, or riesige Kamerun rötliche braune Pavianspinne.
(Oddly, the online translators don't have Dalek!)
For some reason there is a thing called "Common Names of Arachnids by the American Arachnological Society Committee on Common Names of Arachnids."
As impressive as that redundant title might appear, it makes one wonder why an American group seems to be the only creator of such a list and why only the American Tarantula Society seems to print a list derived from it. I'll let you infer my disdain.
This "official" common names list gives us "Cameroon red tarantula" for Hysterocrates gigas.
Simpler yes, yet still meaningless.

What is it about Americans that requires the use of "common" names?
Are we just "common" like the uncouth neighbor mentioned at the beginning of this diatribe?
Well, some are; some aren't. Just like everywhere in the world"even in the land of Dr. Who's Daleks.
But I think it is about time American hobbyists ignored common name lists and elimated the confusion of "black bird-eater".

In conclusion, here is the concise version of this topical rant from Blog #18 so you don't have to look back:

Taken from Blog #18 - 20 "PET" PEEVES

2. Common Names. Speak or write an intelligent and international language. Don't be a simpleton.

3. Scientific Names written incorrectly. I don't care how you pronounce a scientific name. As long as the person you are speaking to understands what you are referring to it's all good. And you're speaking an intelligent and international language. But don't write them like an ignoramus. Let's use Poecilotheria subfusca as our example. You can write out in full like I just did. Notice the italics that should be used if you can. You can even get fancy and write it with the species author as in Poecilotheria subfusca Pocock, 1895. Once the genus has been mentioned you can then abbreviate it as P. subfusca. But the genus always begins with an uppercase letter (i.e., capital) and the species name always is completely lower case. P. Subfusca is wrong and it drives me nucking futs. Even worse, I've seen some write as p. Subfusca. Must be some stylistic bullshit kinda like e.e. cummings using all lower case letters to write crap poetry. I see these errors every day and they are like nails scratched on a blackboard and send me into a rage. I know, my problem. I'm medicated. I'm trying. But it is flabbergasting how many knuckleheads haven't learned this simple protocol. I realize that "smart" phones switch to uppercase when you type a period. But you know that too. Take a second to make the correction or do what I do and just leave out the period for speed's sake. But don't capitalize the beginning of a species name (specific epithet).