The real mystery is
why the group name has "Turtle" in it. How are pigeons like turtles? I think it
is an old misrepresentation of a suggestion that the European one's call sounds
like that word.
The other point is that
there actually is a well established list of 4 letter acronym codes of
Australian bird names. Someone obviously worked out years ago that a 3 letter
code does not work well enough. This 4 letter code works quite well (apart from
the Buff-rumped Thornbill and Brown Thornbill are the only confusion, following
the rules both would be BRTH, so the Buff-rumped became BUTH). On that list the
correct 4 letter acronym code of Spotted Turtle-Dove is SPTD, so on that basis
the whole question does not arise.
As for calling it Spotted
Dove, that is a horrible name, as if anything within Australia, that name best
fits the Diamond Dove (which is far more obviously spotted). Although I note the
species is called Spotted Dove in California (and maybe wider) in USA where
they are also concerned about its spread.
As for John's suggestion
that COG’s Birds of Canberra Gardens Second Edition (2009) is a
credible reference on anything, what a dreadful thought.......... Sorry John
that is no fault of yours. It is a first and I hope last time that happens.
Although in this case, that name use is not at the initiative of the compilers
of that publication, it is simply using a suggested name from another new
suggested standard source. In the same way as using Eastern Koel. How
ridiculous, having a book that, to find Koel in the index, you need to look
under "E" (rather than K).
Of course it is still STD
in COG's 'Birds of the ACT' and in Frith's 'Birds of the Australian High
Country' because that was the name years ago when these books came
out.
I like Geoffrey's suggestion
of ‘Indian Syphilis
Dove’.
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah ACT 2902
02 - 62314041
What an interesting suggestion. I had
thought the use of acronyms was a sufficiently worrying matter for some people
without injection of the new science ‘Priority of Acronyms’. Ah well, if
we are back on what people should or should not say ...
My earliest recollection
of ‘STD’ (for ‘standard’) was on record turntables of the 1950s, where it was
used to distinguish the lever position for ‘78’ records from that for the
exciting new ‘LP’ products.
Then came the even more
exciting technology that enabled direct long-distance dialling (within
Australia) instead of having to place a call through an operator. That
kind of ‘STD’ remains the primary meaning of the abbreviation in my
Macquarie. The disease-related use came later. Without conducting
research on the matter, I assume it was adopted to get away from the pejorative
associations of ‘VD’. In time, STD will no doubt acquire similar
associations and go the same way.
There never was a
‘Spotted Turtle Dove’ in general use. The RAOU inserted the upper-case ‘D’
(‘Turtle-Dove’) for doctrinal reasons. ‘Spotted Dove’ is now the
recommended form. Not that this will conclude the matter from the
viewpoint of dove-rage. The long-recommended ‘Common Myna’ has not
prevented popularisation of ‘Indian Myna’ for the purpose of the elimination
project. Indeed I think a new name for this unloved dove is overdue.
My suggestion is ‘Indian Syphilis Dove’. This conveys the
desired message that this species is really unwelcome, retains a useful
connection with ‘STD’, and furthermore gives us ‘ISD’ which rather neatly
continues the traditional telecom association.
From: Margaret Leggoe
[ Sent: Tuesday, 8 March 2011 7:48 PM To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] The danger
of acronyms
Can we please find another acronym for Spotted Turtle
Dove.
For those who are not aware, it is a widely accepted acronym
for infectious diseases transmitted by a certain kind of social behaviour.
Margaret Leggoe
