[Taxacom] species names for sale.

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 08:11 AM 1/26/2007, Curtis Clark wrote:
> > I know of no rule that forbids the coinage of new words in English
> > when they are needed.  "Speciose" fills a percieved need; everyone
> > knows what it means, even its detractors.
>
>Yes, it means species-rich.
>
> > There is no reason to
> > aside from a pedantic devotion to etymological purity to avoid the
> > word.
>
>I'm proud of being a pedant (all that education wasn't for nothing), but
>it's not etymological purity, rather a sadness that people coin
>unnecessary words out of ignorance. It's the ignorance I deplore, not
>the coinage of new words. I know that deploring ignorance is not held in
>high regard these days, but then, well, I'm a pedant.

I don't think it has anything to do with ignorance.  I think that's a 
specious argument, and frankly rather condescending.  Again, I am not aware 
of any rule that forbids the existence of synonyms in language.  Even in 
scientific writing, it is often desirable  to avoid using the same word 
over and over and over.  Being able to describe a group as speciose 
sometimes and species-rich at others is useful, to avoid unnecessary 
repetition.  Furthermore, I think there is something to be said for the 
functional simplicity of a single word over a hyphenated compound.

And in any event, coining a new word or pressing an obsolete one into a new 
usage is nowhere near as confusing and disruptive as intentionally 
redefining a well known and widely used term like "monophyly" ...


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and 
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
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