In the long-closed thread, The Right of a Fly to a Common Name , the question was asked, Who has the right to create common names outside of iNaturalist and how is this right bestowed upon them? And the answer was given, However, if you want to invent a common name and try to have it meme its w…

[image] charlie: If a band writes a song referring to an obscure fly by a certain name I volunteer as tribute.

David Bowie’s spider is my favorite. Super pretty thing, too. Bowie and the spider, both.

[image] jasonhernandez74: So my quandary is, if there is a certain species of fly, which I have consistently thought of as jester fly because of its motley colors and jaunty mannerisms (and that is how always I referred to it in my field journal since I did not know its taxon), how do I go abou…

omg :sweat_smile: i was trying to think of a witty reference to something but can’t do while kid is climbing on me “no one likes the opening chrysalis”

this feels like a circular discussion where you just want the group that you are already in to be able to choose the name of a bunch of organisms we share the planet with. I don’t think it’s inherently true that no one is going to ever care about small insects, i think maybe iNat is part of the demo…

[image] charlie: the group that you are already in Why are you including who am I into your argumentation? Please don’t do that, this is not a fight between scientists and non-scientists. Making it a fight is not helping. [image] charlie: you just want the group that you are already in t…

[image] alesbucek: Please don’t do that, this is not a fight between scientists and non-scientists I’m also a scientist. [image] alesbucek: Did you consider that scientists know well how mess in the scientific names can obscure the understanding of nature That hasn’t been my experienc…

[image] charlie: I’m also a scientist. Great! [image] charlie: That hasn’t been my experience at all. Scientific names are constantly shuffled despite real downsides. The scientific names are changing to reflect the changes in our understanding of nature. How else it could work? The b…

when and how to change scientific names is certainly not governed by an unbiased, universal truth. Species are a messy thing, a human defined concept, and how they are addressed (ie splitters vs lumpers and name changes) is certainly not the One True Way. It’s a choice, and one i don’t happen to agr…

[image] charlie: when and how to change scientific names is certainly not governed by an unbiased, universal truth. The fact that scientific names are not perfect can not be an argument against the expertise of scientists in developing functional names. Perfect is not what matters - it needs …

Just how does one coin a common name?

Nature Talk

Topic		Replies	Views
The Right of a Fly to a Common Name General	133	8957	November 10, 2020
What to do about silly common names? General common-names	53	2270	August 5, 2024
New Common Names For Species: Policy Change? General	84	7692	November 2, 2022
Species Only Common Name Causes Misidentifications - What to do? General	36	2349	December 24, 2021
Common names invented on iNat General common-names	192	12523	March 29, 2023

Just how does one coin a common name?

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