Changing the names of birds

[balzaccom]

https://www.backpackthesierra.com/post/ ... -the-birds

American Ornithological Society proposes big changes!

IS the Douglas fir the next one to go?

[Harlen]

Interesting Paul, thanks for that tip.

From balzacom's link:

The American Ornithological Society is attempting to remove human names from such birds as the Cooper's Hawk and Steller's Jay.

... It all makes a certain kind of sense, in that the animals existed long before they were "discovered" by someone who chose a name for them. And those names don't really convey as much about the birds as they do about the people who named them.

I like it. It reminds me of cgunderson's, and other's ideas about the endless number of physical features named after people. I've always preferred "Fisherman's Peak" to Mt. Whitney, though I'd like the Shoshone name for it even more... but even it refers to the human world. Oh well.

The Shoshone name for Mt. Whitney is “Tumanguya,” which means “very old man.”

[TahoeJeff]

Direct link to an article:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/do ... r-AA1jd8MX

[Gogd]

So I guess "quacks like a duck", "sly as a fox", "lies like a dog" and so many more appropriations of animalia are next on the list? Me thinks such PC chicanery indicates a committee that has lost sight of it mission - they have gone Cuckoo...
Ed

[balzaccom]

So I guess "quacks like a duck", "sly as a fox", "lies like a dog" and so many more appropriations of animalia are next on the list? Me thinks such PC chicanery indicates a committee that has lost sight of it mission - they have gone Cuckoo...
Ed

I know that some of the early professors are U C Berkeley were honored with any number of geographical features. Now that people have noticed those same professors were outspoken racists and in some cases in favor of eugenics, I can see why we might not want to continue to honor their legacy. It's a complicated issue.

[freestone]

Direct link to an article:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/do ... r-AA1jd8MX

Thank you Tahoe Jeff, much appreciated.

[dave54]

More silliness from the wokeshevicks.

Will the American Ornithological Society change its name too?
They are named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Then we can move on to Stanford University and UC Berkeley. Stanford was anti-Asian and a George Berkeley was anti-gay.

While we are at it, we need to change the name of this state. Queen Califia was an offensive person in the novel...

[balzaccom]

Well, to be fair, all of those places (and birds) had names before Europeans gave them names, so we've already changed the name at least once. Some places in Europe have had their names changed any number of times, either for political reasons or just plain ignorance. One of my favorites is Benbury Hill in the UK. Ben means hill. So does bury. So the name is actually hill hill hill.

In my own town of Napa we have a ridge called Alta Heights. Alta, of course, is Spanish for heights...

[limpingcrab]

Not a big fan, mostly because I like history and names that refer to actual people have a link to history and make things more interesting (to me). When I come across a name, whether it's a bird or a geologic feature, it's interesting to read about the person behind it.

I do concede that descriptive names make more sense, but I'd still take "Brewer's Sparrow" over "Another Brown-streaky Sparrow."

Also, I've spent the last decade learning the names of birds and I have a horrible memory so it's gonna be tough to re-learn!

Final point, holding historical figures to 2023 standards is silly and doesn't make the person any less historically significant. Recognizing someone as historically significant does not automatically mean you love everything about the person.

[Gogd]

I know that some of the early professors are U C Berkeley were honored with any number of geographical features. Now that people have noticed those same professors were outspoken racists and in some cases in favor of eugenics, I can see why we might not want to continue to honor their legacy. It's a complicated issue.

Really it is not complicated at all, renaming species in this context is merely a symptom of weaponizing political correctness.

This problem has been addressed elsewhere in culture. Take for example the arts. It is considered appropriate to boycott a current artist and their works, if they do not measure up to whatever the cultural fitness criteria of the day happens to be. On the other hand it is also considered an exercise in futility to apply current standards to dead artists and their works. Thus today's cultivated society shuns the works of known racist, contemporary rock groups, yet embrace the greatness of the works of German nationalist and anti-Semite, Richard Wagner, particularly his Flight of the Valkyries. Ah but you can't reassign authorship! So true, but if you get hung up on this detail, do consider we'd know nothing of Wagner if not for the fact he was in good standing with his compatriots, and was considered worthy of attention; otherwise he'd be just another unknown soul, his works lost to history.

Perhaps closer to claiming namesake for discovering an animal specie is the naming of rock climbing routes. These routes and birds preexisted humans, thus their naming carries no claim of authorship. When one "discovers" a new specie or accomplishes the first ascent of a route, the individual(s) involved get to name the bird (or route). Surely you must be aware there are many climbing routes with politically incorrect names. In the context of political correctness behind the American Ornithological Society (AOS) intentions, I draw attention to a route in the Shawangunks named Shockley's Ceiling, after William Shockley, an avid white supremacist and eugenicist. The organization who administrates route names for the Shawangunks decided one cannot change the fact William made the first ascent, but did decide append the attribution with a note drawing attention to his Nazi ideological leanings. If the AOS is so inclined, perhaps they should follow the example of the team at Gunks Apps. After all, naming places and animals after their discoverers is not a tribute to the persons, but merely a notation of the historical fact: who made the discovery.

Ed