List the bird names you cowards
this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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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!
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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.
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.
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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.
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Actively involving the public in the process of selecting new English bird names.
Is that wise?
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.
Birdy McBirdbeak
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.
ok what bird said the n word
Twas a Southern Black Tit but it was talking to its homey.
Papa ooma mow mow
Good tactic to make everyone need to buy new editions of bird guide books.
But which bird will be renamed to X?
The titters
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