Re: Goofy dinosaur names: (combined answer)

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

David Krentz:

> Naming a dinosaur after Stan Winston is also a bad idea, just ask
> anyone who has survived working with him.

Are you sure it's named after him? The -orum ending implies that Stan and 
Winston are two different people.

>   Achelousaurus is a great old fashioned name!

If only it were *Acheloosaurus*... :-}

Jamie Stearns:

> When the whole scientific naming concept got started, as I recall,  
> Latin and Greek were used for naming because they were dead
> languages and would not change over time.

Where did you get that from? ~:-| The international language of science was 
Latin, so Latin names got used, and Classical Greek crept in because it was 
even more prestigious.

> This would be good for ensuring stability in nomenclature.

The names are fixed anyway, they don't change, period.

Mike Keesey:

> Besides, it's descriptive of the animal. Beats "place-name-a-saurus"
> in my book.

I agree wholeheartedly.

> (Although you could make a good defense of "place-name-a-saurus"
> names by pointing out that they never turn out to be inaccurate
> --unless the animal turns out not to be reptilian, of course.)

Lacertilian, you mean. (Google for "Sauria", and...)
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