Hehee, Messr Barclay still thinks it would be nice if there was
some agreement on whether we should attempt to use the
classical or medieval Latin pronunciations.  Before I ever
spoke to another shell collector, or attempted to speak a
word of Latin, I had my own ideas about how the vowels
were pronounced, and a "feel" for which syllables should be
accented that were probably modeled after Spanish class.
Once I started talking to other shell people about shells, I
found out that most Americans pronounced the words using
some rules I didn't know.  I did know that the way we
pronounce "Caesar" violated a couple of my fuzzy rules,
and tried to let that be a guide to adjusting my pronunciation
so that I could be understood.  When I started reading
pronunciation guides, I really couldn't find any for a form
of Latin other than classical Latin, which seems to be the
version used by most of the world.  The pronunciation guides
were fairly close to my original pronunciations, even though
I'm sure I Americanized some of the words or Texanized
them.  I have adjusted, but I still find myself giving alternate
pronunciations for a shell name until someone can recognize
what I'm trying to say.  Sometimes I think it sounds like I'm
just stammering.  I think it would be easier if we all attempted
to use the same guide....

As for Latin nomenclature, I agree that the reason it has
stuck around is that it works pretty well, and I also agree
that it isn't broken.  Dick points out that it has stood the
test of time, "although not without a few bumps in the road
along the way."  I'm not really in favor of trading in the
buggy, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to install shock absorbers...
I think standardizing endings might take out some of the
future bumps, and would help us in the Computer Age to
avoid synonymies based on generic placement and species
name agreement.  It would surely make computer searches
easier, and could probably be accomplished without
causing confusion as to which species was being referenced.

Have a great day,



Don






----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cramer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 7:24 AM
Subject: latin pronunciation


Sorry if I gave the impression I want to standardize pronunciation.  I
don't.  Dick Petit has shown with his English examples just how hopeless
that is.   Of course, efforts like Tucker Abbott's to encourage the novice
to jump in anyway are fine but will never be a final solution.  As Dick
implies, the real solution is to learn to understand the words however they
are pronounced and to laugh off (or at) the differences.

As a physics professor I am naturally on the side of pedantry but the truth
is that pedants are bores so let's not turn into pedants.

----------------------------------

Some years ago Cate & Raskin wrote a book on pronunciation of mollusk names,
entitled "It's easy to say Crepidula!" in which they give three different
pronounciations for Cypraea.

While it would be great if we could all suddenly use identical
pronunciations, I fear that it is impossible.

We have a system of nomenclature that has stood the test of time (although
not without a few bumps in the road along the way).  It may be difficult at
times, but is not broken so please do not "fix" it.

Dick Petit

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