Linne or Linnaeous?

[Paul Kirk]

Michael,

With respect, I'm afraid you miss my point, which was, as pointed out by
others, that the original question, from someone who almost certainly  does
not have English as their first language, was in English and the polite way
to respond should have been in English. To answer in French, as you point
out, was not polite as it most probably 'excluded' the person who posed the
question.

I have no language skills (other than English, and some would question that
presumption) so whenever I visit non English speaking countries, which I do
quite frequently, I apologies for the lack of these skill.

I fail to see where my comment was judgemental or disrespectful - it was
just a comment.

And I'm assuming that you would prefer responses to any question you might
pose in a language which uses the Latin alphabet ... or are you prepared to
translate cyrillic, mandarin, arabic, hindu etc.

Regards,

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Ivie
To: Paul Kirk
Sent: 12/02/04 16:57
Subject: Re: [TAXACOM] Linne or Linnaeous?

As an anglophonic american that has trouble with complex French, I
object
to the well-meant response of Dr. Kirk to Dr. Melot's defence of the use
of French in scientific discorse.  To be polite is the act of making
everyone fell included, welcome and valued.  If someone had trouble with
the French, they could plug it into babblefish and get an approximate
translation.

I would like to encourage everyone to accept responses in the language
the
sender prefers without judgemental remarks that can be taken as
disrespectful of another perfectly valid and elegant language.

Michael Ivie

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004, Paul Kirk wrote:

> Point taken, but the original question was in English and therefore
the
> polite response would be in English...
> 
> Paul M. Kirk
> CAB International
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacques Melot [mailto:jacques.melot at ISHOLF.IS]
> Sent: 12 February 2004 12:25
> To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: Re: [TAXACOM] Linne or Linnaeous?
> 
> 
>   Le 12-02-2004, à 12:31 +0100, nous recevions de Paul van
Rijckevorsel :
> 
> >In case the French is a problem, here the same facts in English:
> >
> >The great Linnaeus was born as the son of Linnaeus and had a son
> >called Linnaeus (Linnaeus being the family name). He was elevated
> >into the nobility and, as such, got a coat-of-arms and the name of
> >Carl von Linné.
> >
> >According to the biography by Wilfrid Blunt this elevation happened
> >in 1761 ( Jacques Melot notes that it was passed by the Swedish
> >parliament in 1762). According to Blunt it was antedated 1757
> >(Jacques Melot notes that Linnaeus started calling himself "von
> >Linné" on 20 November 1756).
> 
> 
> 
>     Vous êtes trop aimable de fournir ces traductions de mes propos,
> même résumées. La langue française est une langue internationale,
> c'est une langue traditionnelle des sciences, des techniques, des
> métiers et des arts, c'est aussi après l'anglais la langue la plus
> enseignée au monde comme deuxième langue. Ceux qui donc écrivent en
> français en s'adressant à un public international n'ont pas à se
> justifier de le faire. Je rappelle que le tout-anglais n'est qu'un
> souhait assorti de pressions de la part du monde anglo-saxon et de
> ses alliés, ce n'est pas une réalité : on continue à écrire des
> articles dans d'autres langues, telles l'allemand, l'espagnol, le
> russe, etc.
> 
>     La protection de la production intellectuelle et culturelle du
> genre humain est au moins aussi importante que la protection de la
> nature. Se faire l'apôtre de la préservation de la diversité
> biologique et dans le même temps oeuvrer à tuer la diversité dans la
> civilisation, ou, au moins, rester en simple spectateur devant
> l'uniformisation que l'on tente, par exemple lorsque la diversité
> linguistique établie est menacée, comporte une contradiction
> profonde, pour ne pas parler de cynisme.
> 
>     Cordialement,
> 
>     Jacques Melot
> 
> 
> 
> >Mostly when referring to things "of Linnaeus" the term Linnaean is
> >used, but note "The Linnean Society" (http://www.linnean.org/).
> >
> >In names under the ICZN both spellings appear to be used: "linnei"
> >and "linnaei", also "linneanus" and "linnaeanus". As far as I
> >understand the ICZN the "original spelling" is to be used, i.e. the
> >publishing author sets the spelling.
> >PvR
> 
>