[projectaon] Re: 25totw errata
- From: Timothy Pederick <pederick@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:20:24 +0800
On 26 April 2011 02:15, Jonathan Blake <blake.jon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The word "bacteria" is often used as a
> singular, so do we want to distract the majority of readers who
> couldn't decline a Latin noun if their life depended on it?
>
I'm as pedantic as you, but I just had to comment on this because of the
mental image it gives me: someone accepting (i.e. not declining :-P) a Latin
noun, and it leaps up and kills them...
> Unless Dargorse is a location that I've forgotten about, I'd say
> "dargorse buds".
>
Quite aside from the debate on when to capitalise former backpack items, I'd
say that "dargorse" is a name for a particular fantasy species of gorse, not
a location.
Pedantic as I am, I can't help pointing out that you probably meant
> "epidemic" instead of "endemic". ;)
>
endemic, n. Prevalent in a particular area or region. [Or book.]
On 26 April 2011 22:21, Sam Seaver <samseaver@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I don't know the correct grammatical term for this, but we do not
> normally use "this/these" in front of a word like bacteria, its
> actually too generic of a term. But then, I typically refer to
> individual species in my work. Come to think of it, its the same with
> "people", its rare to hear someone say "These people."
>
Probably a dialectic or idiomatic thing, but "these people" is not at all
unusual to my ears.
> The word "Bacillus" is a genus name, it should be capitalized (ie our
> genus is Homo, our species is sapiens.)
>
Only where the generic name is not also a common name, like *Geranium* vs.
geranium, or *Octopus* vs. octopus -- especially where, as in these two
examples and probably also the case of "bacillus", the common name
encompasses more than just that genus.
On an unrelated point, it seems incredible that there's enough for 5
> meals. Bacteria grow on surfaces, they don't grow in volume, only
> where there's food in direct contact. Imagine for 1 meal, you'd need
> enough bacteria to fill the volume of your average apple, the surface
> area required to grow bacteria to fulfill this requirement for one
> meal alone is staggering.
>
If the real world can give us bacteria like *Epulopiscium* and *
Thiomargarita*, almost a millimetre in length and visible to the naked eye,
then a fantasy world can surely give us bacteria the size of small seeds or
even rice grains. :-)
On 27 April 2011 05:32, Jonathan Blake <jonathan.blake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> "At once you recognize the bacteria to be Gnallia, a benign species of
> bacillus that is often used to prevent and cure infections of the
> blood. The raw bacteria are edible and rich in protein, and there is
> sufficient here for 5 Meals."
>
This sounds just fine to me.
--
Tim Pederick
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