[projectaon] Re: 25totw errata
- From: David Davis <feline1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:50:33 +0100
the thing with Latin loan words in English is that we do *not* decline
them, as English doesn't have cases -
what all those pedants who want to use Latin plurals forget is that in
many sentences, the Latin nominative plural will be the wrong case
anyways!
Plus they often get the declension wrong.
Re the physical size of the bacteria: can they not form bacteria
mats/colonies in places on earth? (or is that just algae?)
Fossil stromatolites of such things exist, I think?
--
http://www.feline1.co.uk
On Wed 27/04/11 9:20 AM , Timothy Pederick pederick@xxxxxxxxx sent:
On 26 April 2011 02:15, Jonathan Blake 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 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 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
Other related posts:
