David D. Brown wrote:
>The value of this thread would be enhanced by a list to include the problem
>word, the rationale for its replacement, and on the same line, the suggested
>alternatives. It would be more convincing, easier to think about, and prompt
>readership participation. Many minds can evaluate better than one or two.
>>A possible model:
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>------------
>replacement obsolete rationale
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>------------
>>syngamy fertilization confusion with eutrophy
>>egg fertile egg confusion with
>eutrophy?
>>CO2 fixing dark reactions ETS?? not clear by Koning
> lignt independent
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>------------
>>What do you think? What other words, lists, do you have?
This is an excellent suggestion.
My big problem in teaching biological words is not that they are wrong, but
that there are too many of them. Many of the words in text books and
floras are, IMHO, unnecessary for students and unnecessary for a good
understanding of biology. For experts they may make a usefull shorthand and
add precision to specialised descriptions,but they should not be taught in
schools or undergraduate courses.
The words I dislike most are Latin translations of perfectly good English
expressions. They originate more from intellectual vanity than didactic
necessity. Germanic biologists do not go on with this nonsense. It seems
to be a disease of the anglophones and, perhaps, the francophones.
I couldn't help noticing that a newly fertilized bird's egg is a zygote
which is a yoke.
I append a few of my least favourite examples.
Proposed Term Old Term Rationale
belly venter unneccessary classicism
spore bearing tissue nucellus = endosperm (French) confusing
embryonic food store endosperm = albumen (French) confusing
ovule coat integument unneccessary classicism
female parts gynoecium unneccessary classicism
male parts androecium unneccessary classicism
flower stalk pedicel unneccessary classicism
inflorescence stalk peduncle unneccessary classicism
outer layer of fruit wall epicarp unneccessary classicism
middle layer of fruit wall mesocarp unneccessary classicism
inner layer of fruit wall endocarp unneccessary classicism
cell membrane plasmalemma unneccessary classicism
vacuolar membrane tonoplast unneccessary classicism
Bob Vickery
bob at acsusun.acsu.unsw.edu.auvickery at mpx.com.au
