Taxacom: Doug's modest proposal

[TIMOTHY A DICKINSON]

As a botanist, I don't have a dog in this fight. Rather, I skim the 
exchanges, marvel, and am glad I don't have to worry about this stuff. 
That said, I think zoologists are lucky to have Doug Yanega working for 
them with intelligence and passion. His most recent arguments 
(2023-07-06, 12:14 p.m.) seem pretty strong to me.

I do not understand the comment that epithets and generic names are 
uninteresting and not worthy of consideration as to their etymology, 
meaning, or origin. That attitude seems singularly uncurious and out of 
place in anyone who works with organisms that are identified as species, 
all of that in a larger historical context. Perhaps this attitude's 
value lies in the way that it is a useful reminder that these names are 
ONLY human constructs, and bear no necessary relationship to the 
biological phenomena with which they are associated, but that sort of 
zen sense of things AND caring about names and their correct use in our 
work seem pretty compatible to me.

---tad.

  
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<Tim Dickinson
<Senior Curator Emeritus
<ROM Green Plant Herbarium (TRT)
<
<Department of Natural History
<Royal Ontario Museum
<100 Queen's Park
<Toronto ON
<CANADA M5S 2C6
<
<Phone: (416) 782 1607 FAX: (416) 586 7921
<E-mail: tim.dickinson at utoronto.ca - ORCID ID https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Forcid.org%2F0000-0003-1366-145X&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C9ffc410ce38c449d550008db7e549cc2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638242674091156866%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=hao7Yhl%2FsPlvKsKHAg1G5h3c0RcbGp2UjcRN%2BIHgdR4%3D&reserved=0
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