Dear Jenny,
 
At 03:26 PM 4/27/98 -0500, you wrote:
 
>Perhaps I did not make myself clear in my initial post.
 
>I am not suggesting an online database of multinational common names, which
>would be of some interest but not great relevance.  Impractical for the
>time-limited malacologist perhaps, but not for the zealous amateur.
 
I referred to this particular kind of glossary as impractical because of
the different common names shells receive in different countries, even when
these countries share the same official language. It would be necessary to
restrict the glossary to countries or regions: for instance, in Chile,
you'd have to check a "Chilean"/English shell-name glossary that would be
useless in Costa Rica, Argentina, or Mexico, even though all these
countries have Spanish as their official language.
 
>However, I think we might find more useful a shelling phrasebook, in
>commonly-spoken languages of regions where collectors might be inclined to
>travel.
 
>I hardly imagine this to be impractical, certainly not absolutely so.
>Hence the clarification, as surely Jose misunderstood my intent.  General
>useful shelling phrases; not species-specific names, Latin or common.
 
Thanks for explaining; I misundestood your intent, and agree that this
other kind of glossary would be very useful, and not hard to prepare if you
have command of the languages and the time to do it.
______________________________________________
Jose H. Leal, Ph.D.
Director - The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor-in-chief - THE NAUTILUS
3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road - P.O. Box 1580
Sanibel, FL 33957
(941)395-2233; fax(941)395-6706
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