Ellen Bulger wrote:
>
> I could use some general advice. I'm trying to bootstrap myself, advance from
> beginning shell collector to advanced beginner or even intermediate.  I'm
> okay at a casual level.  I've read a mess of field guides  If I find
> something on a Caribbean beach, more often than not, I can identify it,
> albeit with the common name.  It's those scientific names that stump me.
> I've tried to memorize them, but they just don't stick.
>
> It was bafflingly me.  Years ago, when I gardened, I didn't have trouble
> remembering the formal names of the plants in my perennial border.  I think
> that's because I talked to other gardeners.  Hearing people pronounce the
> names made them stick in my mind.
>
> A short while ago, as part of my self-improvement campaign, I ordered a book
> from a shell dealer.
>
> "I'd like," I said. "Recent Zee-noh-for-uh."
>
> "Oh, you mean Recent Zi-ni-fura."
>
> Oooooh. That's how you pronounce xenophora?  The dealer was very polite.  She
> didn't make me feel bad it all.  But the exchange strengthened my resolve to
> learn.
>
> I've been reading these Conch-L messages on and off for couple of years.  I
> know the topic of pronunciation has come up before, but when it did, I was
> still just absorbing general information and getting oriented.  Now I'm ready
> to hunker down.
>
> Different people take in information in different ways.  I've gotten a fair
> amount from reading.  But there's the isolation factor,  I don't know anyone
> locally who is interested in shells. (Generally speaking, if people in
> Connecticut are interested in the water at all it's as a place to sail their
> yachts. Marine life is simply a reason to buy anti-fouling paint.)
>
> I absorb some things more effectively when I hear them spoken. I don't
> suppose anyone has made an audiotape or videotape about shells or mollusks?
>
> It's clear to me that hanging with people who talk about shells would do me a
> world of good.  If I can get out of work on time tomorrow, I'm going to drive
> up to the Mystic Shell Club meeting and see if some of their smarts will rub
> off on me.
>
> Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Ellen,

Rule #1 - Nobody in this world is 100% right. Do the best you can and
  let others' comments on your pronunciation roll off like water on a
  Pleuroploca gigantea's dorsum.
Rule #2 - Get the book "It's Easy to Say Crepidula" by Cate and Raskin.
  Order this from your favorite shell book dealer. It contains many
  pronunciations (with alternate pronunciations). It has a basic
pronunciation guide and phonetic pronunciations of hundreds (maybe
  thousands) of well-known shells.
Rule #3 - Don't get in an argument with others about how to pronounce
  a name. I once visited a shell dealer in north Texas who slaughtered
  the Latin names.... but I understood what shell he was talking about,
  so what did it matter. The purpose of a name is to identify the shell.
  If both parties know which shell is being discussed, what is gained by
  arguing ?
Rule #4 - Develop friends with whom you can discuss shell names without
  submitting yourself to ridicule. Forget those who would criticise.
Happy pronouncing !
Winston