More on vernacular names

[Curtis Clark]

on 2005-03-06 19:33 Ron Gatrelle wrote:
> Names do not possess types.  Types possess names.

That seems an unimportant distinction, since a name not "possessed" by a
type has no meaning in scientific nomenclature.

> So the problem is with taxonomists and their concepts not types and
> scientific names.

The "problem" in my view is that the meaning of "name" in the sense of
vernacular names and of scientific names is fundamentally different (and
they serve different purposes), and any attempt to equate the two on a
regulated case-by-case basis demeans (and "de-means") one or both.

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Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
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