<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
/* start of attachment style */
.ygrp-photo-title{
clear: both;
font-size: smaller;
height: 15px;
overflow: hidden;
text-align: center;
width: 75px;
}
div.ygrp-photo{
background-position: center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-color: white;
border: 1px solid black;
height: 62px;
width: 62px;
}
div.photo-title
a,
div.photo-title a:active,
div.photo-title a:hover,
div.photo-title a:visited {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row {
clear: both;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div {
float: left;
/* margin: 2px;*/
}
p {
clear: both;
padding: 15px 0 3px 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
div.ygrp-file {
width: 30px;
valign: middle;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div a {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div span {
font-weight: normal;
}
div.ygrp-file-title {
font-weight: bold;
}
/* end of attachment style */
-->
</style>
</head>
<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br><br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
The bird articles in Wikipedia have specific guidelines that are useful for their purposes as the following citation indicates:<div><br></div><div>The common name of a species is always capitalised to differentiate it from more general terms.[1] The phrase "in Australia there are many Common Starlings" indicates a large number of Sturnus vulgaris. In contrast, the phrase "in Australia there are many common starlings" indicates several different types of starling. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Birds#Bird_names_and_article_titles">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Birds#Bird_names_and_article_titles</a>)</div><div><br></div><div>In everyday writing, however, capitalization is not used for animal/plant species, though when the name is derived from a proper noun, capitalization is generally used:</div><div><br></div><div>Stellar's sea cow</div><div>Chinese red pine</div><div><br></div><div>Then again, specialists/researchers often capitalize nouns that are within their field of study (and that seems to rub off on laypeople in irregular bursts). Wikipedia articles frequently capitalize the article name throughout the article, counter to common usage, so that is not a good resource for capitalization.</div><div><div><br></div><div>My two cents are that it is easiest to not capitalize (other than for proper name derivations and genus names) so that you never have to worry about it. If you do capitalize, where do you stop? Dogs and Cats, Collies and Tabbies...?</div><div><br></div><div>Aloha from Maui</div><div>Benjamin Barrett</div><div><br><div><div>On Dec 15, 2009, at 12:50 AM, Greg and Heather Mellow wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"> <span style="display:none"> </span> <div id="ygrp-text"><p> </p><div> <div>Apparently there is some controversy about how to capitalise (or capitalize) the common names of plants and animals. </div> <div> </div> <div>The great white shark and the tiger shark can apparently be written with minuscule, but Cattle Egret and Snowy Egret are written with capitals. The names River Red Gum and Common Daisy are written with capitals, but poison dart frog and cane toad can be written with minuscule. </div> <div> </div> <div>If I use a combination of capitals and non-capitals for animals and plants, the dictionary will look inconsistent. I have already been 'corrected' for not using capitals, and again for using capitals.</div> <div> </div> <div>What is common practice among lexicographers of minority languages?</div> <div> </div> <div>Regards, Greg<!--End group email --></div></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div> </div> <!-- end group email --> </blockquote></div><br></div></div>
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<div width="1" style="color: white; clear: both;"/>__._,_.___</div>
<!-- Start Recommendations -->
<!-- End Recommendations -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<img src="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97476590/grpId=11682781/grpspId=1709195911/msgId=5112/stime=1260875934" width="1" height="1"> <br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<div style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 77%; border-top: 1px solid #666; padding: 5px 0;" >
Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional <br>
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJnYzg4ZGlvBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzExNjgyNzgxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwOTE5NTkxMQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNzdG5ncwRzdGltZQMxMjYwODc1OTM0">Change settings via the Web</a> (Yahoo! ID required) <br>
Change settings via email: <a href="mailto:lexicographylist-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery: Digest">Switch delivery to Daily Digest</a> | <a href = "mailto:lexicographylist-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change Delivery Format: Fully Featured">Switch to Fully Featured</a> <br>
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist;_ylc=X3oDMTJldm01cWVqBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzExNjgyNzgxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwOTE5NTkxMQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNocGYEc3RpbWUDMTI2MDg3NTkzNA--">
Visit Your Group
</a> |
<a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">
Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use
</a> |
<a href="mailto:lexicographylist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe">
Unsubscribe
</a>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<div style="color: white; clear: both;"/>__,_._,___</div>
</body></html>