birding-aus

Sulfur/Sulphur:Correct spelling of Element 16

To: Tim Murphy <>
Subject: Sulfur/Sulphur:Correct spelling of Element 16
From: Lawrie Conole <>
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 11:40:32 +1000
Tim Murphy wrote:

One of those birds is on the US list. Google gives 3640 hits for Sulphur-bellied flycatcher, 58 for Sulfur-bellied flycatcher.

Splendid work Tim! This gives the lie to the earlier assertion by Jim that 'Sulfur' rather than 'Sulphur' will make database searching an easier proposition, avoiding any confusion regarding spelling: "... This was not an Americanisation but a compromise to ensure that in future searchable data bases would not be complicated by spelling variants ...". There are only two variants, and constructing a search string to include both is as easy as falling off a log.

But this also ignores the voluminous literature that already exists, with a form of spelling that few if any writers/readers seem to have great difficulty understanding. English (as with many other languages) is full of anachronisms. I'm learning Portuguese at the moment, and it seems to have nearly as many oddities of spelling as English - frustrating, but character building!! I see no particular reason to root out all English inconsistencies to give us a phonetically consistent, vanilla-flavo[u]red and debased version of the language - where would the character and fun be then?

There is no significant confusion in the literature about the spelling 'Sulphur' as evidenced by the Google search ration of 3640:58 - and what confusion there is has been introduced by the 'Sulfur' spelling (just 1.6% of all cases in that example)!! Please - no more reductionsism for its own sake.

I promise to post something particularly pertinent to birds/birding next time.

:-)


--
=================================
Lawrie Conole
Senior Ecologist
Ornithology & Terrestrial Ecology

Ecology Australia Pty. Ltd.
Flora and Fauna Consultants
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