 |
Discussion: PaleoWords
Jere Lipps |
To send comments, contact:
Stefan Bengtson
Editorials Editor
3 July 2001
Exact words
Jere Lipps's plead for transparent texts merits a wide distribution among young scientists. I am an agronomist specialised in genetics, but quite interested in paleontology and archaeology. If these sciences aim at being exact sciences, their actors should adopt new terms ONLY if these are based on exact definitions.
Edmond De Langhe
Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Kasteelpark Arenberg 13
3001 Leuven, Belgium
edmond.delanghe@chello.be
July 24, 2001
To the Editor:
Words are powerful, Jere Lipps reminds us in his long editorial "PaleoWords." He reaffirms that words should be chosen carefully and used precisely, that observation should not be conflated with interpretation, and that non-English words and phrases in an English text are generally gratuitous. These exhortations — echoes of points deftly made over the past 30+ years in the ubiquitous Strunk and White primer The Elements of Style — are all to the good.
Still, it was disheartening to learn that Jere finds the covers of Geology "particularly painful." We — the Editors of Geology — write the "teasers" (as we call them) to light-heartedly whet people’s appetites for further perusal of the journal. In Jere’s case, regrettably, the appellation "teaser" ("tease: to vex, to harass, or irritate…by jests and raillery") is evidently all too appropriate.
Perhaps Jere approaches the teasers with expectations that differ from ours. The teasers are not meant necessarily to inform immediately, but rather they are designed to invite readers to explore the subject (and others) further. The assertion, however, that the teasers "have nothing to do with the articles they refer to" leaves me baffled. It seems to me that the relationship between article and teaser is self-evident when the journal page indicated on the cover is consulted. I can’t force anybody to enjoy humor, but we’ll probably stick with the teasers because we (at least) savor the wordplay, and hope that others do as well.
Be that as it may, Jere's points about words are well taken: we should use words carefully. I concur with Jere that we should avoid non-English words particularly when good English equivalents are available. Reinforcing that maxim, the concocted title of Lipps’ editorial ("PaleoWords") suggests that the content of the editorial will be about ancient words, not words used in paleontological writing. Belying his disdain for teasers, Jere has written one of his own!
Sincerely,
David E.
Fastovsky
Co-Editor, Geology
6 August 2001
Geology’s teasers
An editorialist’s job is easy. I write what I want to write about. It is my
opinion, and so be it! I say these things so the community may think about some
particular issue I think is important. My job here is to express my views of how
the field of paleontology operates and how it interacts with the rest of
society. I don’t write about fossils or tools, I write about us. Some of those
operations and interactions are exciting; others need rethinking ... in my
opinion. Palaeontologica Electronica and I invite comment and dissent, in
order to provide additional avenues of thought.
An editor’s job is difficult. Editors have responsibilities to their authors,
readers and subscribers. A scientific editor must also think about the welfare
of the community in which the journal resides. Editors seldom hear the word
"thanks", but do hear a lot of criticism if the journal does not go
according to the wishes of its constituency or individual readers. The job is
hard, it is time consuming, it can be discouraging and the pay is awful. Editors
need our support!
I failed to do that and have contributed to the difficulties of David Fastovsky’s
job by noting my annoyance with some of the "teasers", as Dave calls
them, on the front cover of Geology, my favorite journal. When it comes,
I read the "teasers" and the contents before leaving my mailbox; every
other journal I take upstairs to my office before scanning them. I do not
apologize for my comment that some of the "teasers" are
"particularly painful" to me, because they are. That is my opinion,
which is based on two things: my disappointment when the "teasers"
mislead me, and my belief that our journals should be a help, not a distraction,
in our work. A teaser’s job, according to Dave, is "to vex, to harass, to
irritate". None of those words strike me as a particularly helpful goal.
Geology is by far an enormous benefit in my research and teaching, and
for that reason, I want to emphasize to Dave and the paleontological community
that he and his staff are doing a wonderful job. I congratulate them! I do have
this minor suggestion, however. Reconstruct the concept of "teasers"
on the front cover to be "guides" to the papers the editors think are
especially useful, important or interesting. As guides they should be helpful,
not vexing or irritating. They could certainly be humorous, if possible.
"Cretaceous hot tub" should have been "Cretaceous warm seas"–in
my opinion. That opinion won’t change, even as I read the upcoming issues with
great interest and pleasure.
One other note: PaleoWords, a teaser? I hope not, because I meant it in two
ways: (1) As an abbreviation for "Paleontological Words", as in
paleontological tools or whatever; and (2) exactly as David suggests, as
"ancient words", with the hope that the word usages I identified
become ancient and not done again. But maybe I’d better rethink my titles?
What do we write? As Strunk and White (Strunk
and White 1990), in their Elements of Style (of which I have worn out
several copies recently and given my remaining copy to a student), emphasize,
"Write in English", or German, or Spanish, or whatever you choose, but
don’t mix languages. Lagerstätte is a German word that does not
clarify anything in English, other than the unique beliefs and concepts of
particular people. A discussion on PaleoNet after my editorial makes that quite
clear, once again. Even Adolf Seilacher (Seilacher 1990),
reviewing the subject of "Taphonomy of Fossil-Lagerstätten" in Palaeobiology,
a Synthesis edited by Briggs and Crowther, uses Lagerstätte to
denote a fossil occurrence of particular interest, and then hardly refers to the
word again. Instead he uses conservation deposits and concentration
deposits with a variety of subtypes, not really referring to the German word
at all. He carefully defines all of these in English and they make wonderful
sense to me, to Graham Shields, to our students, and presumably to other
English-reading paleontologists. Even the originator of the use of the term (in
a German article where it does fit), then, does not use the term much anymore–in
English. Fossil deposit or fossil occurrence works well for
Seilacher when he writes in English, and it will work well for other
paleontologists writing and students studying in English. Nothing is gained by
using this or the multitude of other foreign words, except to impress our
colleagues, friends and students. Better to fully explain the panoply of fossil
deposits and occurrences in English, if you wish to impress anyone. At least
they will understand of what you speak and write.
Thus, good German is German, good English is English, but never both at the same
time.
Seilacher,
A. 1990. 3.11 Taphonomy of Fossil-Lagerstätten. 3.11.1 Overview, p. 266-270. In
Briggs, D. E. G., and Crowther, P. R., Palaeobiology, A Synthesis. Oxford.
Blackwell Sci. Pubs.
Strunk, W., Jr. and White E. B. 1999. The Elements of
Style [foreword by Roger Angell]. 4th ed. Boston. Allyn and Bacon.
Jere H. Lipps
Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Paleontology, University of
California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/people/jlipps/jlipps.html
Copyright: Coquina Press
6 August 2001
http://paleo-electronica.org
stefan.bengtson@nrm.se