Capital Letters?? (1 Viewer)

Edward woodwood · Jul 30, 2004

In my Utopia Deportiva Wanka from Peru will win the world club championship

.....I can see Des and his cheeky grin already....

and if you find that funny, then there's something very wrong with your state of mind and you'll never get to heaven o

scampo · Jul 30, 2004

Bluetail said:
I must admit to being very inconsistent about this. I'm as likely to refer to "a flock of Curlew" as "a flock of Curlews". I think it's only wildfowl and waders that suffer from this, isn't it?

Well, not with me. I'm as likely to say "Three lesser whitethroats in the hedge"` as "Three lesser whitethroat in the hedge". Very odd; especially as they're probably not even lesser whitethroats anyway...

Edward woodwood · Jul 30, 2004

here's the club badge and a pic of Deportivo Wanka for you non-believers - sometimes real life is funnier than any joke....and don't they look like a bunch of ......nice young men.

On a more serious note if any out there does get into ornithological editing in any form I have the last word on convention written by a world expert (no names, no embarrassment and no beating at BBWF for me). It's used by BirdLife in all their stuff - Red data books, Threatened birds of Asia etc.... and is a mine of useful information

Jasonbirder · Jul 30, 2004

Is there any chance whatsoever of having Deportivo Wanka sign Paul Dickov? Just imagine....."and its Dickov for Wanka...."

helenol · Jul 30, 2004

Jasonbirder said:
Is there any chance whatsoever of having Deportivo Wanka sign Paul Dickov? Just imagine....."and its Dickov for Wanka...."

How uncouth.

I told you this thread was evolving....

Andrew · Jul 30, 2004

Jasonbirder said:
Is there any chance whatsoever of having Deportivo Wanka sign Paul Dickov? Just imagine....."and its Dickov for Wanka...."

Hope Arthur Cox doesn't take up a managerial post with them!

helenol · Jul 30, 2004

helenol said:
I told you this thread was evolving....

Or should I say...degenerating.

Andrew · Jul 30, 2004

helenol said:
Or should I say...degenerating.

I didn't start it . . . . o

Bluetail · Jul 30, 2004

Andrew said:
I didn't start it . . . . o

No, it was Tim, with his stock tactic when he reckons things are too hoity-toity.

scampo · Jul 30, 2004

helenol said:
How uncouth.

I told you this thread was evolving....

Well - yesterday we were all discussing liberalisation and censorship, now it looks as if we've got it - and not in Ruffled Feathers, either...

(-;

Bluetail · Jul 30, 2004

Well if we haven't we're probably going to...

helenol · Jul 30, 2004

scampo said:
Well - yesterday we were all discussing liberalisation and censorship, now it looks as if we've got it - and not in Ruffled Feathers, either...

(-;

Not from me you haven't, I can be as uncouth as the best of 'em. Where's the tongue in cheek icon?

Or should that be tongue-in-cheek?

scampo · Jul 30, 2004

Liberalisation, I meant...

It always surprises me how some aspects of sex are accepted and others, not so very different, are seen as quite unacceptable. Funny ol' world, innit!

Michael Frankis · Jul 30, 2004

scampo said:
Initial capitalisation is only used to indicate what is called a "proper noun", i.e. a naming noun - a name that is given by someone to an individual to identify that individual.

Bird names are not individual names and so should not be capitalized. However, sometimes a proper noun forms a part of a bird's name, such as "Cetti's warbler", in which case the proper noun keeps its initial capital.

Trouble with this is it leads to lists of birds looking very weird, with at least seemingly random capitalisation, and the hint that there's two different subclasses of birds, superior species, which are capitalised, and lesser semi-species, which aren't.

And there's plenty of cases where it is virtually impossible to know whether a particular name is 'proper' or not, without a detailed knowledge of the etymology of all the world's numerous languages (e.g. is it mikado pheasant, or Mikado pheasant?).

Far better to capitalise every bird name, then you know you're safe and won't be sneered at by a supercilious professor for getting the capitalisation incorrect.

Michael

Bluetail · Jul 30, 2004

The two best arguments for capitalisation have already been put: 1) they make the names stand out better in a page of prose and 2) they avoid the ambiguity inherent in names/phrases such as "little owl", "common tern", "garden warbler" etc.

scampo · Jul 30, 2004

Michael Frankis said:
Trouble with this is it leads to lists of birds looking very weird, with at least seemingly random capitalisation, and the hint that there's two different subclasses of birds, superior species, which are capitalised, and lesser semi-species, which aren't.

And there's plenty of cases where it is virtually impossible to know whether a particular name is 'proper' or not, without a detailed knowledge of the etymology of all the world's numerous languages (e.g. is it mikado pheasant, or Mikado pheasant?).

Far better to capitalise every bird name, then you know you're safe and won't be sneered at by a supercilious professor for getting the capitalisation incorrect.

Michael

I know this will sound harsh but I'll say what word came to mind: nonsense. To be able to memorise hundreds of Latin names as you have and then claim not to be able to remember a few proper nouns. Well... I gasp in surprise and sniff just a little lack of sincerity or at least a bit of disingenuity in your argument.

Michael Frankis · Jul 30, 2004

Hi Steve,

I may know them myself (much of the time) - I'm thinking more of the immense confusion it gives to birders with less knowledge than you or I do.

And there are plenty of birds which I genuinely don't know whether they're derived from proper names or not, nor any reasonable way of finding out . . . how about a Huia? or an ‘Apapane? an ‘I’iwi? or an O’ahu ‘Amakihi? (yes, these are real birds that English speakers have to deal with, on New Zealand and Hawaii, respectively

)

Michael

Mickymouse · Jul 30, 2004

How about capitalising I when in the middle of a sentence, most people do but some don't and it looks odd.

Mick

Bluetail · Jul 30, 2004

Hi, Mick. I is always capitalised, whatever it's position. After all, no one is more important than I! (Believe it or not, that was precisely the reason I was given when I was young!)

Mickymouse · Jul 30, 2004

I was just wondering because certain amongst us doesn't, stir stir

Mick

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