Re: Understanding names (long)

["Larry Dunn" <larrydunn@hotmail.com>]

th81@umail.umd.edu wrote:

>>What matters is what a non-expert sees when s/he is reading about
>>dinosaur groups.
>
>No, and I am sorry to disappoint you (and perhaps others on this list).  
It
>does NOT matter what the non-expert sees when they see the name.  That
>really doesn't matter.

A note to my fellow non-pros:

At first Holtz's comment may sound a little ivory towerish and ruffle 
your feathers, but if you think about it, it is basically correct and to 
our ultimate benefit.

We really do have to let the dinosaur paleontologists do their thing 
with each other in order to get it right.  If they are too busy trying 
to entertain us while doing their technical work they'll inevitably be 
distracted from the job at hand.

I've looked at the SVP Journal and struggled through the articles, but I 
certainly don't want them to dumb them down for my consumption!  
Intelligent discussion would lose out in the long run, and thus so will 
we. For instance: Who knew that Tyrannosaurus was more closely related 
to Struthiomimus than to Allosaurus?

Fortunately, we no longer have to rely on the likes of Don Lessem to 
(mis)translate the technical work for us.  Paleontologists have 
increasingly taken to writing books for the general reader that explain 
things more clearly.  A good recent example is the Farlow Complete 
Dinosaur  -- probably not much new there for the pro but an excellent, 
informative resource for the nonpro.  That and amusing back flap pix 
too.

Larry

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