ITALICS

Kelly Irvin kellso@irvincentral.com
Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:03:13 PDT
This is a test...

/Lycoris/ /radiata/

/Lycoris radiata/

/So, does this mean we can now post an entire message in italics so as 
to make it feel more like handwriting, and, therefore, more personal?/

Mr. Kelly M. Irvin
10850 Hodge Ln
Gravette, AR 72736
USA																
479-787-9958
USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a/b

http://www.irvincentral.com/



iain@auchgourishbotanicgarden.org wrote:
> David this is exactly the problem I had on reading your first worthy effort 
> which clearly, along with this try, has been mangled during the routing via 
> different computers / programmes which is why I took some care to be, 
> possible on reflection,overly laboured with mine just sent off ahead of 
> yours incoming.
>
> Iain
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <pbs-request@lists.ibiblio.org>
> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 6:21 PM
> Subject: pbs Digest, Vol 68, Issue 18
>
>
>   
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>   1. Re: to italicize or not to italicize... (David Ehrlich)
>>   2. Re: to italicize or not to italicize...(final attempt)
>>      (David Ehrlich)
>>   3. Re: to italicize or not to italicize... (Jim McKenney)
>>   4. Re: to italicize or not to italicize... (Jim McKenney)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:21:41 -0700 (PDT)
>> From: David Ehrlich <idavide@sbcglobal.net>
>> Subject: Re: [pbs] to italicize or not to italicize...
>> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Message-ID: <184743.54404.qm@web81006.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>>
>> Wow!? I look at the E-mail I sent, and all the italices are gone.? So, 
>> also is the multiplcation symbol for the hybrid.? I'll try resendin it 
>> using undescores for the italicization -- maybe that'll get through.
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: David Ehrlich <idavide@sbcglobal.net>
>> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 8:58:51 AM
>> Subject: Re: [pbs] to italicize or not to italicize...
>>
>> My bible on Plant Systematics gives the ICBN recommendations, which are 
>> that both the generic and specific epithets should be italicized.? The 
>> authority is not italicized.? If you are referring to a variety or 
>> subspecies, the ?var.? or ?subsp.? is not italicized, but the following 
>> epithet is, e.g.,
>> ????????? Lyonia ligustrina (L.) DC. var. filiosiflora (Michx.) Furlow
>> ?
>> Higher taxa are always capitalized; they are generally italicized by 
>> Europeans, but not by Americans.
>> ?
>> Cultivar names should have a capital initial and either be included in 
>> single quotes or preceded by ?cv.?? They are never italicized.
>> ?
>> Hybrid names are preceded by x, and are italicized.
>>
>> David Ehrlich
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:34:59 -0700 (PDT)
>> From: David Ehrlich <idavide@sbcglobal.net>
>> Subject: Re: [pbs] to italicize or not to italicize...(final attempt)
>> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Message-ID: <139188.91586.qm@web81001.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>>
>> I'm sure that somewhere along the way, my response has been converted to 
>> plain text.? the Italicized wods in my letter were?Lyonia ligustrina and
>> filiosiflora.? Also?the x for hybrids is not the letter ex, but a 
>> multiplication sign; it?should not have serifs, and it should be centered 
>> with the text, not?on the line like an alphabetic letter.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:39:10 -0400
>> From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com>
>> Subject: Re: [pbs] to italicize or not to italicize...
>> To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Message-ID: <001001c91751$957ee140$2f01a8c0@Library>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Hi, Jennifer
>>
>>
>>
>> The two responses we've have so far go along way to answering your
>> questions; I'll just add a bit more here because the recommendations in 
>> the
>> earlier responses are those formulated for use in technical or more formal
>> publications. I edit the local rock garden chapter?s bulletin, and I 
>> wrestle
>> with questions of this sort all the time. Our membership includes several
>> professional taxonomists who are concerned that anything they publish in 
>> our
>> bulletin should appear seemly in the event that one of their professional
>> colleagues should see it. At the other end of the spectrum, our membership
>> includes many gardeners who probably throw away plant labels as soon as 
>> they
>> get home from the source, and who don?t know the names of most of what 
>> they
>> grow. I?m known to be a bit of a martinet when it comes to proper labels.
>> And I?m perceived as speaking only ?gardener?s Latin?. At a recent meeting 
>> I
>> used a vernacular name, and several heads turned at once; and one of them
>> actually said ?I?ve never heard you use a vernacular name before!?.
>>
>>
>>
>> Keep in mind that this is not a matter of right and wrong - it's a matter 
>> of
>> style. Just as there is no universally accepted authority for the grammar 
>> of
>> American English, so there is no universally accepted authority for these
>> matters.
>>
>>
>>
>> And just as the majority of people spend more time and money to be stylish
>> in their dress, hair and politics (and how ?bout them Tina Fey glasses!)
>> than they do to acquire refined grammatical sensibilities, the majority of
>> editors don't want to seem to be a Doofus (take that, spell check!) and 
>> bend
>> to prevailing practice in these matters.
>>
>>
>>
>> Languages change, and our language is changing a lot right now.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here's the way I would treat the part of your inquiry which is not 
>> directly
>> addressed in the responses so far. You wrote
>>
>>
>>
>> "He refers to Bearded Iris and Oncocyclus Iris.  Are these considered
>> scientific names or common names?  I did not italicize hybrid tulips,
>> hyacinths, and crocus - should I have?  Meanwhile, I did italicize Lilium,
>> Muscari, and Tigridia.  Right or wrong?"
>>
>>
>>
>> I would not capitalize or italicize either word in "Bearded Iris" or
>> "Oncocyclus Iris". To my mind they are pseudoscientific common names.
>> However, if those terms were in reference to another publication cited in
>> the paper at hand where they were capitalized, then follow the format used
>> in the other publication.
>>
>>
>>
>> The words "tulips" and "hyacinths" are not Latin: they are the plural 
>> forms
>> of words now commonly accepted as English. The word crocus poses a 
>> different
>> challenge: there is a perfectly good English word "crocus" which looks 
>> just
>> like the genus name of the plant in question, Crocus (italicized). Current
>> practice in many circles is to regard all genus names as potential English
>> names, with the difference that in their English avatar they do not have a
>> capitalized initial letter. But watch out here: I would say that our job 
>> as
>> editors is to understand what the writer means and to convey that meaning.
>> Does the writer mean "the genus Crocus" or does the writer mean "crocus" 
>> in
>> the vernacular sense? Any editorial changes to the writer's usage should
>> reflect the writer's intentions, not blind adherence to some preconceived
>> "rule".
>>
>>
>>
>> If you're doing the writing yourself and are uncomfortable with the
>> inclusion of what seems to be the same word used to convey two separate
>> meanings, you can emphasize the difference by using the plural of the
>> English form: crocuses won't be confused with Crocus (italicized and with 
>> a
>> capital initial letter).
>>
>>
>>
>> If you agree with that and understand it, then that should answer your
>> question about "Lilium, Muscari, and Tigridia". In other words, depending 
>> on
>> what meaning is to be conveyed, those words can be printed in lower case
>> letters without italics (and made plural just to avoid any ambiguity) or 
>> can
>> be printed in italics with a capitalized initial letter (when they are
>> shorthand for the full expression "the genus Xus").
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jim McKenney
>>
>> jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
>>
>> Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871? North, 77.09829? West, USDA 
>> zone
>> 7
>>
>> My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/
>>
>> BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/
>>
>>
>>
>> Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS
>>
>> Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/
>>
>>
>>
>> Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:03:59 -0400
>> From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com>
>> Subject: Re: [pbs] to italicize or not to italicize...
>> To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Message-ID: <001801c91755$0e67ea40$2f01a8c0@Library>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Well, David, welcome to email world. I have long regretted the lack of
>> italics capability on this forum - it makes discussions such as this one a
>> lot more complicated.
>>
>>
>>
>> But I'm glad you had this experience:  I wanted to start a discussion of 
>> the
>> role of italics in print media.
>>
>>
>>
>> I've always assumed that the practice of italicizing scientific names is a
>> hold over from the old more general practice of italicizing text in a
>> foreign language. When I was a kid, it was not unusual to see foreign 
>> words
>> italicized. The practice has all but died out in my local newspaper, The
>> Washington Post. I've complained about this to them, and I've complained
>> about the practice of using words and phrases from who-knows-what language
>> without explanation of the meaning or the pronunciation.
>>
>>
>>
>> The relevance, if any, of all of this to the present thread has to do with
>> the treatment of taxa above the rank of genus and species. I've seen a 
>> call
>> for the italicization of all such taxa. For most of us, that would mean 
>> that
>> in addition to italicizing the genus and species, we would italicize the
>> family name, too (and also italicize the names of orders and so on in the
>> unlikely event that we would use them).
>>
>>
>>
>> What interests me about this is that the print media in general seem to be
>> taking one direction while garden writing seems to be taking another. In
>> some samples of my own writing I italicized all taxa: the result was a 
>> very
>> busy page, like one with too many exclamation points. I can understand why
>> newspapers are shying away from the extensive use of italics (and isn't it
>> ironic that this is happening when italics are so easily done in word
>> processors). But I wish they would give some thought to providing
>> definitions and pronunciation guides to these words. Then again, I wish 
>> more
>> gardening publications would do the same (and not with those phony "as if
>> they were English words" pronunciations - I don't need their help in
>> pronouncing my own language).
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jim McKenney
>>
>> jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
>>
>> Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871? North, 77.09829? West, USDA 
>> zone
>> 7
>>
>> My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/
>>
>> BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/
>>
>>
>>
>> Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS
>>
>> Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/
>>
>>
>>
>> Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php
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>>
>> End of pbs Digest, Vol 68, Issue 18
>> *********************************** 
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