Dinosaur a tecnical term; fish is not (was RE: Fish with milk (Sheesh spinoff))

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> A.P. Hazen
>
> (*) Tom, didn't you  a few posts back applaud the insistence on not
> writing "dinosaur" for "non-avian dinosaur," because such a usage
> would be incorrect?  And haven't you, in responding to me, just  used
> "fish" to mean  "non-tetrapod fish"?  (Grin!)

Fair enough.

But also, to be fair, "fish" is an ancient English word far predating the 
science of biology, while "dinosaur" is a term from
technical literature, dates only to 1842, and created specifically for use in 
scientific contexts.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796