Thanks. Can you please cite a source for that correct grammar?
On Friday, January 8, 2016 9:15 PM, Nathan Lange <plantsman@comcast.net> wrote:
At 12:55 PM 1/6/2016, you wrote:
>Scientists, much like the rest of the world require names so that
>they can effectively communicate with each
>other, and to the rest of the world.
There is one behavioral barrier that most people must overcome when
one's favorite outdated taxonomic names or anatomical terms are
challenged or replaced by science, i.e. the need to effectively
communicate with each other. One must continually strive to avoid
being a victim of the economic theory of sunk cost fallacy: meaning
that you are much more likely to continue support for a bad decision
or obsolete idea if you have previously invested emotion, time,
money, or effort (sunk cost) in it. In fact, this concept applies to
many aspects of life. An example here would be continued support for
an outdated name of a plant or plant part even though the botanically
accepted name is something new. In this case, such support would be
measured by continued use of the dated name or term. The people most
susceptible to the sunk cost fallacy in this example frequently seem
to be those who have written a lot using the outdated names or terms
in question since they have the most invested emotionally in the
outdated names and will therefore often be the most vocal defenders
of the antiquated language in question. Previous emotional investment
in bad or obsolete ideas invariably clouds our present capacity for
objective and critical thinking, limiting our ability to move forward
and communicate effectively.
Not that it really matters for a hobbyist group, but the correct
grammar of nomenclature is to completely avoid creating plurals of
genera and families altogether and use a phrase like "many species of
Scilla," or "many Scilla species," or "many scilla are" instead of
creating a new word like "scillas." This avoids creating a
communication problem for someone who has no familiarity with a
particular genus. Someone new to horticulture or botany might
incorrectly think there is a genus named "Scillas."
Nathan
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