Language question: waterbirds or water birds (1 Viewer)

kb57 · Apr 1, 2020

Agree with the majority here, 'waterbird' is the correct term to use in an ornithological context.

The problem is no-one has told Microsoft or Apple - just tried typing it on my iPhone and it autocorrects to 'water birds'; on Word I get a red underline denoting typographical error. So I can understand how anyone who is relying on spellcheck functions may get confused by this.

See also 'watercourse'...

Nutcracker · Apr 1, 2020

Farnboro John said:
In which connection, "shorebirds": a term for waders that still hasn't really caught on..... 3

John

It's what they're called by Americans - they use 'waders' for things like herons

Gonçalo Elias · Apr 1, 2020

dantheman said:
Waterbirds over water birds imo. It's kind of entered into the english language as a real term so better to use it?

(But then it is land mammals not landmammals still ...)

That's true. The same for "land birds".

Farnboro John · Apr 1, 2020

Nutcracker said:
It's what they're called by Americans - they use 'waders' for things like herons

Wot - waterbirds? 3

John

fugl · Apr 2, 2020

janvanderbrugge said:
Quote:
True. But who said it had to be? Anyway, what language is? Show me a language with no "irregular verbs"....
Farnboro John

Hey, John, please mind your linguistic remarks ^). Afrikaans, the beautiful language of South Africa, which developed parallelously to our own Dutch - and which some of my compatriots still qualify as "such a funny speech" - has dropped all irregular verbs which the Dutch language still contains. There is even no imperfect past tense, as in "I was, I did, he came", in Dutch :"ik was, ik deed, hij kwam"; such phrases have turned into "ek het gewees" (Dutch: ik ben geweest), "ek het gedoen" (Dutch: doen, gedaan = to do, done), hy het gekom (Dutch: hij is gekomen).
By the way, the linguistic development did not take away all irregularities, example: in Dutch we have "nacht, nachten" (night, nights), in Afrikaans: nag, plural: nagte, and Dutch: "dag, dagen" (day, days) became: dag, daë, so South African children have to learn such things which are not logical for them. . .
Cheers, just a side-track (side track?) from a language freak, Jan (= John) van der Brugge

Very interesting. To Dutch ears, then, Afrikaans must sound like baby talk. That certainly would be the case in the English speaking world where young children typically pass through a stage where they “regularize” irregular verbs—“thinked” for ‘thought”, “goed” for “went”, etc., etc.

janvanderbrugge · Apr 2, 2020

Hello fugl, thank you for your reaction. I should not give an extension towards off-topic matters, but I take the liberty to translate the examples you gave, somehow to reward your avatar name and interest:
Dutch: denken, ik dacht, gedacht = to think, I thought, thought. Also, noun: gedachte = (a) thought
Afrikaans: dink, ek het gedink, gedink. Noun: gedagte (I wonder how they link those words in their minds)
Dutch: doen, ik deed/wij deden, gedaan = to do, I/we did, done
Afrikaans: doen, ek het gedoen/ons het gedoen, gedoen (there is still a word "gedaan" for: ready, exhausted!)
Dutch: gaan, ik ging, gegaan = to go, I went, gone
Afrikaans: gaan, ek het/is gegaan, gegaan
Dutch: vliegen, ik vloog/wij vlogen, gevlogen = to fly, I flew/we flew / flown (also: to run at high speed)
Afrikaans: vlieë, ek/ons het gevlieg, gevlieg [vlieg in Dutch and Afrikaans = fly, the insect]
de vogel is gevlogen = the bird has flown
Afrikaans: die voël het gevlieg
In this last example there would certainly be an impression of children's talk, like you remarked.
By the way, the phrase has a double meaning in Dutch: the culprit has disappeared.
Well, so do I, drifting still farther away from the shore(birds) and waterbirds of this topic . . .
Enjoy, stay fascinated in people's talk and healthy.
Jan van der Brugge

gratography · Apr 2, 2020

Water birds

I understand wanting to group a batch of birds....so generally I have no problem with water birds as a catch all...

also like to say birds like Kingfishers always live by the water and differentiating them from, long-legged wading birds, gulls and terms, shorebirds etc., brings more clarity to any discussion of birds by water, including the waterfowl

MJB · Apr 4, 2020

Just to prolong this discussion a little, here's the latest BTO Annual Report on Waterbirds in the UK:
MJB:t:

https://www.bto.org/sites/default/f...T4pO-_pIzl5WnLfexC3wNI9B7eSJV56fnRmEJiOIUqIgI

dantheman · Apr 4, 2020

Seabirds as opposed to Sea birds ...

(why didn't think of that earlier!)

Gonçalo Elias · Apr 10, 2020

I have another question of the same kind, this one is more related to the habitat:

When referring to a large area covered by reeds, should we write reed beds or reedbeds?

dantheman · Apr 10, 2020

Gonçalo Elias said:
I have another question of the same kind, this one is more related to the habitat:

When referring to a large area covered by reeds, should we write reed beds or reedbeds?

Reedbeds has become a proper word in common use in the English language so yes.

Gonçalo Elias · Apr 10, 2020

Thanks dantheman

Gonçalo Elias · Aug 25, 2020

Farnboro John said:
Waterbirds and wildfowl. The former encompasses wildfowl, crakes, rails and I would have thought herons etc, others may have their own opinions. Wildfowl is limited to ducks, geese and swans.

John

Geeting back to this waterbird issue...

I am aware that waterfowl refers mainly to ducks... then there is also wildfowl.

My question now is: are wildfowl and waterfowl one and the same thing, or is there a difference between both words?

Nutcracker · Aug 26, 2020

Gonçalo Elias said:
My question now is: are wildfowl and waterfowl one and the same thing, or is there a difference between both words?

I guess the tame semi-domesticated bread-eating Mallards in city parks would count as waterfowl, but not wildfowl, as they're not exactly wild :-O

Ditto Mute Swans.

dantheman · Aug 26, 2020

Wildfowl goes along with 'wildfowling' which is all about the shooting of birds for the pot or for pleasure. So an inappropriate word to use these days in birding terms??

I've never used the term at any rate.

Nutcracker · Aug 26, 2020

dantheman said:
Wildfowl goes along with 'wildfowling' which is all about the shooting of birds for the pot or for pleasure. So an inappropriate word to use these days in birding terms??

I've never used the term at any rate.

But then . . .

https://www.dutchbirding.nl/recensies/1047/wildfowl_of_europe_asia_and_north_america

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Wildfowl.html?id=gFawO8q9VfIC&redir_esc=y

Both essential birders' literature, bet they're on your bookshelves

Gonçalo Elias · Aug 26, 2020

Thanks to both.

YuShan · Aug 26, 2020

dantheman said:
Wildfowl goes along with 'wildfowling' which is all about the shooting of birds for the pot or for pleasure. So an inappropriate word to use these days in birding terms??

I've never used the term at any rate.

"Owling" also has a very different meaning for non-birder millennials.

foresttwitcher · Aug 26, 2020

YuShan said:
"Owling" also has a very different meaning for non-birder millennials.

A new one for me - apparently it was also a common term for the smuggling of sheep or wool from England to France.

Nutcracker · Aug 26, 2020

foresttwitcher said:
... apparently it was also a common term for the smuggling of sheep or wool from England to France.

Presumably because the smuggling was done at night (owl time) when less likely to be detected :t:

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