Well, when you write about it, it might be obvious to you because you
know what you mean, but to me, it is not because I have to extract this
out of the context, the name itself is generally ambiguous.
The key is the discussion is whether or not names of animals are common
nouns or proper nouns. Once the species within a group have each has a
single established name, it becomes a proper noun. For most species,
except birds, there is no such standardization. I personally would
prefer to treat each name as a proper noun, but unfortunately that kind
of clarity will take a long time.....
Kim
Eric Schauber wrote:
When I write about white-tailed deer I do not mean any deer with white on
its tail. Similarly, when I write about a spotted salamander, I do not mean
any salamander with spots, nor with spicebush swallowtail, nor a fat
pocketbook mussel.
Only with birds is this tyranny of capitalization held up as gospel. I
think we can all agree that respect for scientific authority is valued by
those who study all types of animals, so let's just come out and admit that
it's a socially enforced convention among ornithologists to require
capitalization.
--
http://www.kimvdlinde.com
