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#111275 08/31/03 02:00 AM
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I'm going to compile a list of animals in which the first word is capitalized and the second is not. African elephant would be an example.

Thompson's gazelle

Kodiak bear

Indian elephant

What are some others?


#111276 08/31/03 03:23 AM
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Sumatran, Siberian, Bengal Tiger. Javan rhinosceros


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Roosevelt elk
Douglas squirrel
Olympic marmot
Trowbridge shrew
Pacific water shrew
Townsend's mole
Keen myotis
Townsend's chipmunk
Olympic chipmunk
Townsend vole
Oregon vole
California sea lion
Northern elephant seal
Dall's porpoise
Pacific white-sided dolphin
Olympic torrent salamander
Cope's giant salamander
Ensatina salamander
Van Dyke's salamander
Pacific tree frog
Cascades frog



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Wow! I just woke up and went online immediately to see whether anyone had entered anything. Thanks to you both for these--I'll use them all in class very soon. As I sleepily waited for my computer to boot up, I thought, "Oh, I can add Maine lobster..." But, let me tell you, what a great surprise to have all of these.

Many thanks--and if anybody else can think of others, please do add them here. I'm trying to compile some interesting separate lists of examples of when we flat don't capitalize animal names (naturally that's very easy to put together), when we capitalize the first word, as in the list I'm asking about, and then genus and species, which is also seemingly endless and very easy to compile. It's the one here that is a bit more of a challenge. Many thanks.


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Canada goose
American robin
American kestrel
Cooper's hawk
Virginia rail
Baltimore oriole
Arabian horse
Morgan horse
Siamese cat
German shepherd
Chilean dolphin
Arctic fox
Grant's zebra


#111280 08/31/03 02:38 PM
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Przewalski's horse (wild horse of asia, the only true wild horse.)


#111281 09/01/03 10:55 AM
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Thanks, Jackie and of troy, for the additions.

This morning in one of my AHDs I checked out what is now becoming the master list. None of Father Steve's made it into that edition, but I'll check those out on onelook.com tonight.

However, in searching for Father Steve's, I found some others, so that search went well overall.

Jackie, I can use Arabian horse as a noun, but I can't use Morgan horse. The Morgan is generally referred to as Morgan and is listed in the AHD as such. It's a different case for the Arabian, which is listed as 'Arabian horse' (n.). English is fascinating. There are many breeds of horses that would work, however, such as American saddle horse. I have no idea why 'Morgan horse' is not shown, but only Morgan is.

of troy, your 'Przewalsky's horse' didn't make it into my AHD, but that, too, I'll check tonight on onelook.com--especially to retrieve the pronunciation. The 'Prz--' combination entices me.

None of the specific tiger species were included, but I do want those on the list. AHD surprises me here. The Kodiak bear was included, but the Bengal tiger wasn't? Go figure. The Siberian husky was included, but the Siberian tiger wasn't. Grant's zebra wasn't included--I thought that was surprising--but Grant's gazelle was. I've never heard of Grant's gazelle. Oh, well.

The word 'northern' is problemmatical and I'm not sure how I'll develop an explanation for understanding when to capitalize it and when not to. For instance, the 'Northern prickly ash' has 'Northern' capitalized; however, the northern oriole and northern pike have no capital letters. I think I could explain easily why northern lights aren't capitalized, but the Northern Cross is and, related, aurora borealis isn't, but Corona Borealis is. But why the Northern prickly ash is and the northern pike isn't? That's a bit trickier--one being region (capitalized) and the other simply being directional. I think that would be harder to both teach and for my kids to understand.

Here's a good example of strictly direction (not capitalized) lower case usage from things you all have sent me. Someone above submitted 'Arctic fox.' I checked it, as I did all entries, including my own, in the AHD. Well, lo and behold, the entry should have been spelled 'arctic fox'--strictly directional reference and not regional or specific reference to the Arctic Ocean itself. This was true, also, for arctic tern and arctic char--stictly direction references. What's cool, I think, is how these words function as nouns and not as 'adj. + n.'

Thanks to all. There's still some research to do in order to make some working lists that will be interesting (I hope). Onelook.com should fill in the gaps.


#111282 09/01/03 11:04 AM
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Just checked it out on MW online, and the little guy who pronounces words pronouned it like this:

shuh-VALL-skeez horse

Here's the paste from that webpage:

Pronunciation: psh&-'väl-skEz-, sh&-, "p&r-zh&-'väl-
Function: noun
Etymology: Nikolai M. Przhevalskii died 1888 Russian soldier & explorer
Date: 1881
: a small stocky bay- or dun-colored wild horse (Equus caballus przewalskii syn. E. przewalskii) of central Asia having a large head and short erect mane -- called also Prze·wal·ski horse \-skE-\

[MW online]


#111283 09/01/03 12:14 PM
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The word 'northern' is problemmatical and I'm not sure how I'll develop an explanation for understanding when to capitalize it and when not to.
Well, if you do, would you explain it to me? I wondered about something like the northern flicker. Morgan, and arctic fox surprised me also, esp. Morgan. I'll bet that if most of us, out of the blue, announced to a friend that we were going to buy a Morgan, very few would immediately know we were referring to a horse.


#111284 09/01/03 03:58 PM
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The Przewalski's horse is now, usually just called a wild horse.

It it the only true wild horse, (very few are left in asia) from which domesticated horse were bred.

American wild horses (Mustangs) are really horses that have escaped and live wild... Feral would be a better word for them, not so the Przewalski's --

i too always had to puzzle of the how to say the name. the Bronx Zoo has a breeding stock, and 50 or so acres for them to run in, not the wilds, but not caged at any rate (the whole of the Zoo is about 350 acrces... pretty big for a city zoo!


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