Botanical names question - be honest...

Appears like my northern ears might not understand after all! LOL! Not to worry though, I'll figure it out. I can learn Latin and Southern at the same time. I have a brother in Alabama and I can email him for translations if needed. LOL! I love you guys!
Joan

Hah! Ya'll are a crazy lot! *smilin' here!*

This message was edited Friday, Apr 5th 11:28 PM

Joan, even we natives don't understand much of it. It changes every time there is a bend in the road.

Baa how on earth did you expect these poor folk to understand what you just said. I mean - they won't know if it's posh English or otherwise!! I can tell you guys, it was otherwise. :-) Even I couldn't understand some lingo back home, the worst being up North in Newcastle!! But I always understand Americans, wherever they come from!! Baa in my mind I think of you as being soft spoken with no accent at all!! Am I right?? My favs for the audio would be the real South, New York or Boston voices!! I could listen to those voices all day long!!

This message was edited Friday, Apr 5th 11:28 PM

Louisa

You're not far off! I am softly spoken but apparently have an annoying habit of switching from pure Black Country to countryfied Hampshire to College English all in one paragraph.

For those who don't know what I'm yapping about, Black Country is a dialect close to Old English. Hampshire (country) is more understandable with some letters blurred and College English is an accent used by those who have worked in different regions or been to college with people from various parts of the country, not to be confused with Standard English or Received Proununciation (BBC accent).

We are a country of very diverse dialects and accents, many of which are now dying due to us being a more mobile society :(

lol!!! With apologies to Terry for sabotaging her thread - although I think she might forgive us since it seems we are all for the Latin and ready to go ahead with the new venture!! Sis, I love the way people up Boston way pronounce their r's!! Like paty, instead of party!! Loved the way JFK talked!! Baa last year a friend of mine who is director of drama at the UVA asked me if I would attend a class of hers since she wanted the students to listen to various English dialects. There was to be another young man that she invited!! Well, I have my own unique accent having travelled all over the world and it doesn't allude to any one part of England! I am not refined but neither am I a Cockney! And I have nothing against either of these!! However, this other person at the class was very refined, very collegiate and was from Yorkshire. His father was a pastor back home!! We were asked to read the same sentences and the inflections were to be studied!! It was so funny because the other guy kept dropping his acquired accent and slipped back into his native Yorkshire - of course I had to take the mickey but it was all in good fun and I had a great time!! The class thought it was hilarious!!

LOL What a unique thing to be a part of Louisa.

I'm often called out on my accent and called a Brummie (terminal insult to those from the BC (yam yams) and Birmingham (Yow yows)) here. I've lived mainly in Hants since I was 9 and had a very confusing conversation with a chap who was part of a filming crew, he said 'You're a long way from home.' I replied, not understanding what he meant, 'No I live about 9 miles east of here.' Poor chap told me what he meant and then got a long, loud lecture on why I'm not a Brummie and the dialect differences. I doubt he will ever make the same mistake again. Hey, its a sensitive subject LOL

Well, all I can say is at least the British recognize the existence of different dialects. In America, if you mention someone's accent, you're likely to get a puzzled look and the question "WHAT accent?" That holds true regardless of where they live, or how they speak, LOL.

Back to the botanical terms; I want to offer my thanks to Baa and CopperBaron for voluntering to assist me, and I hope I can count on their continued help to get it finished :)

I have learned a lot of defintions and pronunciations getting the project to this point; I hope when we're finished, it will serve as a helpful tool for all of us!

You're more than welcome Vols and send it on!

Wish I had the time to spare to help you too!! Well that and the fact that if I stay on computers too long my head and ears start buzzing!! But if you run into difficulty, which I doubt, I would be happy to help you out now and again!! Baa I do like the Brummie accent and can mimic it quite well. You are too young to remember a TV game show about pop music. Gosh, the name of the programme escapes me now. A pop show, where new releases were introduced and the panel gave marks out of 5 I believe!! One girl was a Brummie and the punch line of hers was known country wide - Oi'll give it foive!! lol!!

Heres an excellent link that discussses this topic.

Paul
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00041.asp

I am a baby to this all really. But as someone has taught me so well. You should at least have it on hand. There are many plants that have the name " Desert Senna"
and a few botanical names that have more than one "common name" It is the only way to positively identify a particular plant. Especially if you are getting into the botanical , jumping in , with both feet! And I find myself, learning a few latin names as I go along.

Once you learn the basics, it is likely to stay with you forever. I first encountered the fascinating world of Latin names way back in the 50s, and quercus, acer, ilex, all the names that were so new then to my blank horticultural slate are firmly lodged there. Even the names of some of the botanists credited with discovering the original plants still lurk in those cob webs. Wilsonii, Burchellia, Gleditsch, Davidii, what lyrical sounds to roll around on one's tongue. But it feels more comfortable to use them when among people who understand, and it's easy to let them slip so far that proper association becomes difficult. We will all benefit from more frequent usage here, and maybe I can recall where those names belong more easily.

This message was edited Friday, Apr 5th 11:29 PM

Sis, are you speaking pig latin??? Oinkya?

This message was edited Friday, Apr 5th 11:30 PM

A quick update on this project. When I gave Baa a section of my list I had fewer than 500 botanical names, and maybe 60% of them had a pronunciation and/or definition.

Baa, Copperbaron and MsBatt are currently working on different sections of the list. Without knowing exactly how much they've added to their respective sections, I know we're up to at least 1500 genus and species names, complete with pronunciations and definitions.

When they are done, all the work will be compiled, looked over one more time, then we'll pass it to Dave to incorporate into the Plants Database, along with other changes he's making. I *think* the terms, definitions and pronunciations will also be accessible in a "look up" feature (outside the Plants Database.)

I want to offer a huge THANK YOU and recognition for the work of Baa, Copperbaron and MsBatt - without their efforts, this would have remained a very limited list of terms. It's another example of how Dave's Garden really is for gardeners, by gardeners.

Oh, what a wonderful resource! This place just gets better and better and bigger and better!

Just wanted to write the 100th post in to this thread, haha :)