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List the bird names you cowards
This has some explanation. TL;DR get ready to be underwhelmed. This was based on some earlier efforts e.g. one in Sweden that changed bird names containing “neger” (negro), “kaffer” (a racial slur), or “zigenarfågel” (gypsy bird), but the stuff they’ve been able to find in North America is, well:
- Oldsquaw (a slur)
- Inca Dove (historically inaccurate, no overlap with Incas)
- McCown’s Longspur (McCown was a confederate)
Maybe there were more they didn’t mention but my guess is that there’s a reason they’re writing the story while dancing around what names are actually being changed.
Aw man, I thought I was gonna find out there’s birds with old person shit like what my grandma used to call Brazil nuts lol
I guess that’s a good kind of disappointment to have
If anyone is wondering
N word toes
Not as messed up as Midwesterners calling stones sticking out of the ground risking dulling the mower blades n-word heads…
Couldn’t believe that one when I heard it used by a racist country bumpkin dumbass.
I’m from the Midwest and I have never heard that. Goddamn that’s a bad one lol
Maybe it’s specifically the Ozarks?
Could be! Or maybe just a more rural thing. I grew up on the border of a major city and while it was generally frowned upon, I was no stranger to a lot of charged terms.
It (embarrassingly) took me until my 20s to realize the phrase I used to say something was poorly cobbled something together meant “rigged up like a black guy did it” - I assumed it was some ancient English word.
Never hear this one.
Yep. Caused quite a stir at Christmas one year!
To me it sounds like it used to be that way, but at this point this is just someone questing around for a “problem” to solve so they can prove to the world that they’re a really good person.
It’s a problem in that it ignores the fact that McCown (who happened to then fight for the Confederacy after) collected this bird and gave it to another white man, who ‘named’ it. The bird was already well known to Native American tribes in Texas and Arizona. So to say that McCown ‘discovered’ it is just blatantly wrong. The name that the AOS will go with is the ‘thick-billed longspur’ as it’s anatomically accurate and doesn’t make it seem like McCown discovered this bird.
So you are saying they are gonna change all European centric names for something regarding their phisical attribute? Or is it just this one?
I believe they’re trying to change any bird that’s named after a person, and any European-centric name that replaced an existing indigenous name.
But, that’s a weird tactic. I mean, the rock dove/common pigeon is native to Spain, Senegal and Sri Lanka. What is going to be it’s indigenous name?
Another example: Heerman’s Gull is native to the westcoast of north america, from Vancouver to Guadalajara. Obviously none of the natives called it Heerman’s Gull, since the guy wasn’t born till the early 19th century. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has two dozen “indigenous names” before leaving the US, so what are we going to pick?
Can’t be any worse than the person who just sits around criticizing others so they can prove to the world they are a clever person.
To me it’s whatever. The upsides are small but they still far outweigh the one downside
I doubt these people are just doing it for kudos, though.
I mean, broadly I do agree with this. It’s whatever. Maybe I was too harsh. I’m not trying to be critical of someone who’s at least trying to make the world a better place, even if I think the way they’re going about it is a little artificial and silly. I do think it’s artificial and silly though.
It’s a little silly but I’m for making these changes but the only real defense for keeping them is “it’s always been that way!” which is just a flawed argument
Hold on, lemme put on my downvote boots.
To me the defense is, if people are going around and saying that calling it an “Inca Dove” is racist or misogynistic and we all have to spend time and money and effort changing it around to something else, then it’s going to hinder genuine efforts to resolve racism or misogyny because some people are going to start putting it alongside the “Inca Dove” thing into a category of “stupid stuff that doesn’t matter.” Changing “Oldsquaw” sounds great because that’s actually racist. Changing the confederate name thing, eh, it seems weird to me but I can see it. “Inca Dove,” alright now you’re just making up stuff to get upset about and asking everyone else to play along with it and if they don’t want to, they’re some kind of bad person.
Just my opinion.
Tits and boobies come to mind.
Sorry, what were we talking about? Birds?
I must say, I will appreciate more descriptive names when trying to identify certain birds.
I must say, if they rename the tit or the booby I shall hereby declare a state of war.
Many Latin and Greek names of birds are descriptive. For example what people often call the “tit” bird is actually Parus major, which you could roughly translate into “a bit bigger”. And they are the biggest of the tit birds.
And another “tit” actually is called Lophophanes cristatus. Which roughly means “showing the comb (lophophanes) with hood (cristatus)”.
I never knew that. That’s pretty cool.
Cute!
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Birb
Tweety
Birdy mcbirdface
Birdemic
Blue tits
Yeah this’ll go well
I can’t imagine a world in which calling a bird a “tit” in the first place was not the product of a poorly thought out public poll
“tit” is old-style english mean “something small” or “a little bit”. You can still spot the word in old sayings like the biblical “Jot or tittle”.
On the other hand, we also woodpeckers, which is kinda similar in that it has a common translation, but also a hilarious one.
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They’re aiming for more descriptive names, so it’s probably not going to be a “vote for the best name” type of public involvement
I’m not entirely sure that involving the public in anything is wise.
I couldn’t find a single example of a racist bird name in that article. You’d think they would give one.
You can find a list on https://birdnamesforbirds.wordpress.com/historical-profiles/bios-by-region/ if you’re interested.
Yet often it was his own stubborn and uncompromising nature that defined his life – his choices paint a picture of a man who was unable to heed the words of others. This undendinly antagonistic nature cost him friends, honours and ultimately put him into the dark role of colonialist.
He was “stubborn and uncompromising”, which makes him “antagonistic”, therefore a colonialist and racist. That’s a pretty low bar. I don’t think it makes sense to define racism in a way that makes all 19th century naturalists racist.
You could have also picked the dude that desecrated indigenous graves to do phrenology.
Edit: Jesus Christ you left out that this dude was a literal colonizer in New Zealand. He was an officer in a militia during the New Zealand Wars.
He was also a committee member of The New Zealand Company, which existed to systemically colonize New Zealand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Swainson#New_Zealand_estate
So maybe it is slightly misleading to say he was labeled racist for being “antagonistic”??
Admittedly, I only checked this one article. I think it’s hard to judge how evil he really was. Either way, not a hill I’m going to die on.
This is a terrible source, as is Lemmy tradition.
Here’s a better source I really wish that op would have been better about that. It’s linked in the article they linked.
It appears that they are concerned with the tradition that the first person that scientifically describes the species gets to name it.
And, well, those people have been white.
Seems like stupid rationale IMO.
Do you think artists should be able to name their works?
Why shouldn’t scientists also be able to name their works?
That’s exactly what I’m saying. They should be able to.
It’s hard to communicate with pithy texts only. I misunderstood.
I agree that the renaming effort is an over reaction trying to be more DEI for no apparent benefit.
That’s why people should be concerned. There’s likely an ulterior motive here.
I’m curious what the ulterior motive for renaming birds could be?
Obviously it’s about globalist world domination plot
To sell new bird guide editions, obviously.
I have no fucking idea but it only makes sense there would be one, if there truly was no bigotry behind their original names.
Calm down there Alex Jones
Lol, what? What exactly is concerning about renaming birds to be more descriptive?
Not everything is a conspiracy, my guy.
First, they rename birds.
And then, they’ll make all of our kids gay trans Korean lizard people!!!
READ BETWEEN THE LINES SHEEPLE
ok what bird said the n word
Twas a Southern Black Tit but it was talking to its homey.
Papa ooma mow mow
Can we rename all the lady parts next? Too many dead white men up in my junk.
https://medium.com/beingwell/10-female-specific-body-parts-named-after-men-f4ce59d16b91
You actually seem to have got it.
Here’s a better source that suggests that they are interested in changing birds named after people, rather than birds named after slurs. It’s linked in this article. I really hope that shames op. We need to be better.
Whether or not those people were bigots, they were probably white and male. Same as the anatomists that named the lady parts.
There’s just a tradition of the first person to scientifically describe a “thing” getting to name it.
It’s not great, but people that get to travel the world describing species and knowing enough to scientifically describe lady parts, etc are not poor people, at least until post war science. They still would have been mostly white and male, but they wouldn’t have had to be as much independently wealthy.
The tradition of namin something after another person does not apply to anatomy. The tradition there is to use latin which describes its function, appearance and/or location in the body. Except the men who wanted to name women’s anatomy after themselves. Going as far as to make stuff up, and even name structures that weren’t part of the female reproductive organs but merely seemed like it.
Good tactic to make everyone need to buy new editions of bird guide books.
But which bird will be renamed to X?
The titters
For example, in 2020, the AOS renamed a small prairie songbird found on the Great Plains to “Thick-billed Longspur.” The bird’s original name—honoring John P. McCown, an amateur naturalist who later became a general in the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War—was perceived as a painful link to slavery and racism.
I don’t know how I feel about this though…
It’s part of a broader movement to rename birds to be more descriptive. “McCow’s longspur” is both unmemorable and nondescriptive, “thick-billed longspur” puts one of its distinguishing features in the name.
The fact there’s a lot of racists who had birds named after them hundreds of years ago is just one more thing to add to the pile. The names would benefit from being changed even if they were all saints.
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Damn… k bye lol
I believe if species being renamed were known and named by Indigenous peoples, that name is the proper name to use. These organisms were not discovered by western science any more than the continent was discovered by westerners. Not only would it be a small sign of respect but would help protect Indigenous language and culture.
Finally. I think it’s fair to name a bird after you if you are its creator. Being the first person to document it doesn’t mean much to me and certainly doesn’t mean they can name a bird after themselves.
Edit: i guess the downvoters believe that a bird is not discovered until a white man sees it.
Can’t wait to periodically rename everything every ~70 years as societal standards change.
Can’t wait to periodically rename everything every ~70 years as societal standards change.
Well, I guess you can take solace in the fact that unless you’re in grade school right now you probably won’t be alive the next time the American Ornithological Society decides to re-examine the english names for birds.
Even those still in grade school shouldn’t be concerned as most of these bird species won’t survive climate change on the track it is currently taking
