Wombats are still badgers in parts of Tasmania!
Excellent suggestion Mark. There will be problems with the plethora of
Aboriginal languages (and the difficulty English speakers have pronouncing
Aboriginal words) and differences between their taxonomy and that of
Western science but and it shouldn't be too great a task.
Consider the following:
Western Kulin names (from southwestern Victoria)
Maerii - Gang Gang Cockatoo
Pirtuup - Sandpiper
Wilann - Black Cockatoo [probably Red-tailed]
Eastern Kulin names (from central Victoria)
Kruk-wor-rum - Snipe
Dulum - Black Duck
Bath-mum - Wood Duck
Uu-gup - King Parrot
Barrawarn - Australian Magpie
Tee-yung - Rose Robin
Nup-nup or Bik-mum - [Magpie] goose
Some of the words may not use the linguistically preferred spelling but you
should get an idea of what could work.
Regards
David
Mark Carter
<markthomascarter
@yahoo.co.uk> To
Sent by:
birding-aus-bounc cc
Subject
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Re 'Jabiru'
24/11/09 01:55 PM
I agree with Philip Veerman's post- the confusing 'Jabiru' is just the tip
of the iceberg when it comes to Australian bird common names. I think
settlers did Australian birds a great diservice when they set about naming
them after the vaguely similar species of elsewhere but it was
understandible. What I don't understand is the way 21st century ornithology
persists with these clumsy confusing labels. A Red-capped Robin is not a
robin in much the same way than a Koala bear is not a bear. Mammologists
have gotten over this dodgy inheritance years ago- native cats are now
almost universally renamed quolls, marsupial mice are now dunnarts (or
antichinus or psuedo antichinus or...) and porcupines are now echidnas.
Australian birds such as shrike-thrushes, woodswallows, wrens, chats,
magpies, babblers and treecreepers are intrinsically awesome and don't
deserve to be encumbered by these clumsy, 2nd hand, confusing and often
dreadful misnomers (shrike-thrush particularly makes me cringe). These is a
vast and rich source of authentic names in the many Aboriginal languages of
our continent- is it outragous to suggest we consider this?
Mark Carter
Alice Springs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:15:24 +1100
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Subject: Re 'Jabiru'
To: "'Tony Russell'" <>
Cc: "Birding-aus \(E-mail\)" <>
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Surely their proper name is the Australian Black Satin-necked non-jabiru
Stork. (joke)
Why doesn't some book author take the initiative to rename some bird
groups to simpler things, like rename the Cuckoo-shrikes as Cush e.g.
"Black-faced Cush" and likewise invent other new names, so we can
dispense with all those silly names like "Cuckoo-shrike" (not a joke).
After all, names are just labels, why not have distinctive ones that
don't give wrong impressions.
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah ACT 2902
02 - 62314041
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
==============================
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
