Based on the outcome of conventions created for
the AFS names project they ended up out of sync
with the Associated Press Stylebook, the bible of news writers.
For animal names such as the dog, the frog, or
the thrush, the names are lower case. Specific
animals names are to be Capitalized, e.g. Painted Frog or Ruby-Throated Thrush.
Rich
At 09:21 PM 11/10/2016, you wrote:
>Dear Leslie,
>
>It certainly would be great if you could
>document all of this when time permits.
>
>Intuition and admittedly enfeebled recollection
>lead me to believe the use of lower case for the
>initial letters of vernacular names has a more
>deep-seated origin/philosophy than mere simplicity of keyboard operation.
>
>Harry
>
>PS: POV must mean point of view - and AFS American Fisheries Society. HGL
>
>
>At 08:51 PM 11/10/2016, Leslie Crnkovic wrote:
>>Hello Susan,
>>
>>To provide a historical perspective...
>>Going back to the 1988 1st edition of the AFS
>>Common and Scientific Names of Mollusca... Turgeon et al
>>
>>When working on a research paper some 12 to 14
>>years ago, I actually interviewed Turgeon on the matter.
>>The reasoning at that time (consider the state
>>of the PC and Typewriter of the late 80s), the
>>POV of the AFS was that it was extra effort to
>>make sure that each word was capitalized and to
>>assure consistency they standardized all lower
>>case. Note, they were doing Fish and Crustacea also.
>>
>>R. Tucker Abbott was deeply involved in the
>>original debate, and ultimately lost the battle
>>to capitalize these 'formal' names. Abbott
>>wrote several articles on the topic (don’t
>>have access to the references at the moment),
>>in one article I remember was him referencing
>>an article he wrote called "Non-Capps Poops"
>>but it that appears to have never been
>>published. Best guess is it was submitted to Astronaut Trail Shell Club.
>>
>>Hope that helps,
>>
>>Leslie Crnkovic
>>San Jacinto College
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Conchologists List
>>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan J. Hewitt
>>Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2016 12:51 PM
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: [CONCH-L] Common names and capital letters
>>
>>I am currently helping put together a marine
>>field guide for a small Dutch Caribbean
>>island. The guide will be in British English,
>>and it will include fish and a whole range of
>>invertebrate phyla as well as marine plants.
>>The marine mollusks (spelled molluscs) are one
>>chapter. For each species covered, the common
>>name will be listed first, and then the scientific name.
>>
>>I see that "Names of marine mollusks" by
>>Turgeon et al, 1998, stated that common names
>>in text should be used without capital letters,
>>except where a proper noun is part of the common name.
>>
>>However, that opinion seems to have changed. On the fisheries.org website,
>>
>>http://fisheries.org/docs/pub_style10.pdf
>>
>>The text states:
>>
>>"Most common names of fishes are now
>>capitalized (see section 9.7 for further information)."
>>
>>Section 9.7 clearly states:
>>
>>"Following the usage in the 7th edition of
>>Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the
>>United States, Canada, and Mexico (AFS Special
>>Publication 34; 2013), new rules apply to the capitalization of species names.
>>Capitalize the common names of all fish
>>species, including those not in Common and
>>Scientific Names and other AFS taxonomic publications."
>>
>>The field guide we are preparing must use a
>>unified system for the common names of all
>>phyla, so I am planning to recommend that in
>>the text we capitalize both parts of the common
>>name (or where applicable all three parts) for
>>all of the phyla including mollusks. So it
>>would read like this "The Chestnut Turban is a common species in this area."
>>
>>Any comments?
>>
>>Personally I find that capitalization makes the
>>common name stand out more clearly from the
>>surrounding words, so I am quite happy to do this.
>>
>>I will be grateful for any feedback.
>>
>>Susan J. Hewitt
>
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