Dinosaur serrations

Tom Zurinskas truespel at HOTMAIL.COM
Sat May 17 16:43:22 UTC 2014


Some dinosaur names are not pronounced as I would have thought.18 dinosaur names are in link below, in truespel
http://www.screenr.com/dxHN  


Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk


 > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Dinosaur serrations
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Thanks, Garson.  Readers of Alley Oop will recall that his dino, like
> others, had much larger serration-type whatchamacallits.
> 
> JL
> 
> 
> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 2:32 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Dinosaur serrations
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > Cartoon dinosaurs (other than Stegosaurus) often used to be drawn with a
> > > line of rather small, skinny serrations along their spines.  Why was
> > that?
> > > More to the point, does herpetology provide a more technical terms than
> > > "serrations"?  Assuming that comparable structures exist on some reptiles
> > > somewhere.
> >
> > Here is a lead from the sometimes accurate Wikipedia.
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chameleon
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Some chameleons have a crest of small spikes extending along the spine
> > from the proximal part of the tail to the neck; both the extent and
> > size of the spikes varies between species and individuals. These
> > spikes help break up the definitive outline of the chameleon, which
> > aids it when trying to blend into a background.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Perhaps cartoonists were inspired to place serrations along the spines
> > of some dinosaurs by flawed analogical reasoning combined with the
> > examination of the spiky spines of some lizards. I do not know if
> > there is a formal name for these spikes.
> >
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> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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