"Bees' nest"?!!! WTF!!!

[Damien Hall]

What a shame Dennis Preston's not on this list any more.  He'd have some interesting things to say in the 'folk taxonomy' debate.

I just wanted to come here and note that Brits don't use the term 'bee' to cover 'all flying, stinging, possibly yellow and black insects'.  This was a usage I first came across when I moved to Philadelphia.  And aren't I right in alleging that there are hairy wasps?  ISTM therefore that what Brits use to establish the taxonomy is body shape: hourglass-ish and pointed for the wasp, blob for the bee.  When you get closer up there are, of course, other differences, as has been noted, but I wouldn't want to be close enough to either animal (particularly not to wasps) to see them, whereas body shape can be observed from a distance.

I think Dan is right in his implication that both folk and scientific taxonomies are useful, depending on what you want to use them for.  I do seem to remember being confused by the larger usage for 'bee' when I first went to the States, and possibly not in a good way, as I'd be much more comfortable going close to a bee=honey/bumble bee than to a bee=wasp.

Damien

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Damien Hall

University of Kent (UK)
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, 'Towards a New Linguistic Atlas of France'

English Language and Linguistics, School of European Culture and Languages

Please think about coming to our conference, and tell people about it! Sat 5 May 2012:
www.facebook.com/ELL.conference.2012

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