I know very well that what I am going to say will bring controversy but I firmly believe that all the names of birds that contain the word "common" should be replaced since that term is derogatory.
There is no doubt that the term is used to emphasize that the species is ordinary and of little value due to its abundance, despite other approaches that associate it with the land.
Common chaffinch, common redpoll, common reed bunting, common linnet, common yellowthroat, common nightingale, common redstart, common whitethroat, common kestrel...
We are often resistant to change and we don’t realize that change itself is constant. Changes trigger progress. Things move forward and develop because of them.
What you've posted isn't really controversial at all. What it is, though, is that it is very narrowly selective. Why do I suggest that? Just take a look at this typical dictionary entry:
"COMMON:
adjective: common; comparative adjective: commoner; superlative adjective: commonest
1. occurring, found, or done often; prevalent.
"salt and pepper are the two most common seasonings"
Similar to:
usual, ordinary, customary, habitual, familiar, regular, frequent, repeated, recurrent, routine, everyday, daily, day-to-day, quotidian, standard, typical, conventional, stock, stereotyped, predictable, commonplace, mundane, run-of-the-mill, wonted, widespread, general, universal, popular, mainstream, prevalent, prevailing, rife. established, well established, traditional, traditionalist, orthodox, accepted, in circulation, in force, in vogue
Opposite to:
unusual, rare
(
of an animal or plant) found or living in relatively large numbers; not rare.
"you might spot less common birds such as the great spotted woodpecker"
denoting the most widespread or typical species of an animal or plant.
"the common gull"
ordinary; of ordinary qualities; without special rank or position.
"the dwellings of common people"
(of a quality) of a sort or level to be generally expected.
"common decency"
of the most familiar type.
"the common or vernacular name"
2.
shared by, coming from, or done by two or more people, groups, or things.
"the two republics' common border"
belonging to or involving the whole of a community or the public at large.
"common land"
MATHEMATICS
belonging to two or more quantities.
3.
BRITISH
showing a lack of taste and refinement supposedly typical of the lower classes; vulgar.
"she's so common"
Similar to: uncouth, vulgar, coarse, rough, unsavoury, boorish, rude, impolite, ill-mannered, unladylike, ungentlemanly, ill-bred, uncivilized, unsophisticated, unrefined, philistine, primitive, savage, brutish, oafish, gross, lowly, low, low-born, low-ranking, low-class, inferior, humble, ignoble, proletarian, plebeian, plebby, slobbish, cloddish, clodhopping, common as muck, baseborn
Opposite to: refined, noble
4.
GRAMMAR
(in Latin, Dutch, and certain other languages) of or denoting a gender of nouns that are conventionally regarded as masculine or feminine, contrasting with neuter.
(in English) denoting a noun that refers to individuals of either sex (e.g. teacher ).
5.
PROSODY
(of a syllable) able to be either short or long.
6.
LAW
(of a crime) of lesser severity.
"common assault"
noun
noun: common; plural noun: commons; noun: right of common; plural noun: rights of common
1.
a piece of open land for public use.
"we spent the morning tramping over the common looking for flowers"
2.
INFORMAL•BRITISH
common sense.
3.
(in the Christian Church) a form of service used for each of a group of occasions.
4.
ENGLISH LAW
a person's right over another's land, e.g. for pasturage or mineral extraction."
My understanding is that the use of the modifier 'common' in ornithology and birding is limited to the meaning of the adjective as defined in my blue text in Section 1, which covers the principal usages.
If I read your post correctly, you consider all uses of the modifier 'common' in ornithology and birding to be limited to the meaning of Section 3, which covers a usage, a British idiom, that is far from major, and that all the rest of the ornithological world has to do is agree with you...
I agree that this British idiom is clearly based on snobbery and condescension, but that idiom has never been widespread in ornithological usage, if indeed it was ever intended that way.
MJB
