Using proper names
Marguerite English (Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:39:21 PST)
Well said, Jane. I was trying to be subtle about this when I mentioned
my garden club discussions. Most of the ladies really don't care what
botanists call a plant, and the few who do reserve it for less
generalized situations. Since I like these folks, I don't try to
change them. It's something like previously being an English teacher,
and correcting someone's grammar. Not something a polite person does,
no matter how important grammar is or how much she knows. I find that
people who do that are often being arrogant or unkind. It is different
when we are writing or editing for a scientific or international
audience, the naming rules are different than for a local audience.
And, as you say, a good editor doesn't permit her authors to put forth
articles that will embarrass them later. Marguerite
Jane McGary wrote:
On the other hand, no useful purpose is served by applying prescriptive
standards to usage in contexts where these standards are unnecessary.
However annoyed you may be by the term "calla lily," pointing it out over
coffee at a local garden club meeting can have several social effects you
might not desire: (a) it redirects the topic of the conversation; (b) it
seizes the "floor" or dominant position in an unexpected way; (c) it makes
the other speaker feel inferior. It's much more tactful to model a
preferred usage, which in conversation in North America, at least, would be
"callas" and not Zantedeschia, in the hope that your interlocutor will
imitate you. In editing, this is known as a "silent correction," because
you change it without pointing it out to the writer, and the writer almost
never notices that you've done so. He just smiles happily over what a good
writer he is.