Re: last comment about pronunciation of saurus

["Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu>]

> The modern Greek pronunciation is indeed something like "SAH-vross",
> but what's used in biological nomenclature is Latinized ancient Greek,
> in which it's "SOW-ross".

   Whatever...but just because SOME Greeks pronounce it this way NOW 
doesn't mean that ALL Greeks at ALL times pronounced it this way.  Or has 
Greek (and Latin) somehow become immune to the kinds of vicariant events 
that lead to regional dialects, drawls, and accents that every other 
language has suffered?  I doubt anyone here would disagree that languages 
undergo this exact phenomenon -- American English seems particularly awful 
(southern drawls, New England-ese, Minnesotan, etc.), and I know British 
English isn't much better (just watch "My Fair Lady" if you don't believe 
me); I've also heard similarly bad problems in China (unrelated to the 
Mandarin-Cantonese issue).  In short, I seriously doubt that there is ONE 
way to pronounce ANYthing in Greek, Latin, or any other language.  This 
means that deciding on an "official" pronunciation for anything is going to 
be a completely arbitrary decision not based on anything "real" (just as the 
"official" pronunciations in dictionaries are arbitrary, and certainly not 
set in stone because they, too, change with time: witness the evolution from 
"often" as "OFF-en" to "OFF-en or OFF-ten," even though everyone knows that 
only mutant freaks pronounce it the latter way) (CLOSE CAPTIONING FOR THE 
HUMOR IMPAIRED: that last statement was meant as a sarcastic joke, not as an 
insult).

   As a wise cartoon once noted, "Language is a stupid form of 
communication."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT  84770   USA
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and     dinogami@gmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/

"Actually, it's a bacteria-run planet, but
mammals are better at public relations."
                                     -- Dave Unwin