Carl and Shane
I agree on the whole with Carl and would like to add one other important
point - clear communication. It is much easier to read an email that
has sentences beginning with capital letters, paragraphs to break up a
block of typing, and commas and fullstops - one can manage without
semi-colons although I do rather like to use them every now and again so
that they get a bit of an airing!
Happy New Year to all
Shane,
I do admit it was a bit of a cheap shot at the media, but then the
temptation is often too great to resist when they set them self up.
The style your news paper re. bird names has adopted is interesting,
but to me it sets the stage for a deal of confusion. For example is a
black-and white tody-tyrant a tody-tyrant that is coloured black and
white or does it refer to the bird species Poecilotricus capitalis, is
a Fiordland penguin any penguin found in Fiordland, New Zealand or
does it refer to Eudyptes pachyrhynchus, is macaroni penguin a pasta
dish or species of penguin and is a limpkin relative that has
fainted?. I could go on but posts are supposed to be limited to 250
words.
What I am on about is that Proper Nouns should be capitalised and bird
common names are proper nouns. If you are going to come up with your
own way of using Proper Nouns at least be consistent and use the style
for all, e.g. prime minister, great Dane, john smith and so on.
I sympathise with your Father re. txt, but he should be prepared to
accept it. There are a growing number of High Schools in the United
Sewers of America which now accept work from students written in txt,
on the grounds that it is the "Democratic Right" of a student to use
the language structure they wish.
On the subject of email being an informal method of communication and
so you do not have to worry too much about punctuation, etc.,
remember, any email you write could end up in Court. Having been on
the receiving end of a Barrister going at my emails like a Rottweiler
with a baby, construing all kinds of meanings because of sloppy
punctuation, I can tell you it is not a pleasant experience.
As to why Quail, Albatross etc. for plurals? I do not know, but it is
probably a similar reason to why people do not capitalise the common
names of birds:)
All the best for the New Year and good bording
Carl
On 02/01/2008, at 8:47 PM, wrote:
carl
the house style at the newspaper i work for is not to capitalise
animal names except where derived form people or places, so Gould's
petrel for instance would stay up.
re your earlier assertion that the breakdown in punctuation and
grammar "probably has originated in the media as a cost saving
exercise, as it saves on ink ..." you may have been being facetious
but i think you'll find it originated in informal forms of
communication such as this and txt messages. there is no doubt it is
encroaching elsewhere. my father, who is a university lecturer, is
occasionally horrified to mark essays and assignments from students
written in txt! (they fail.)
as a member of the much maligned print media, most of us do our level
best to uphold the rules of grammar and punctuation and stem the tide
of americanisms. the latter is a losing battle and one that has been
going on in english (australian and the queen's) much longer than many
realise.
re this topic, a more pertinent question is: why do many birders refer
to birds in the singular: ie i saw 10 quail, 5 albatross etc? there
seems to be no rhyme or reason for it. they're not sheep, or fish.
happy new year
shane b
ascot q
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