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22 de agosto de 2018

Canada + USA ≠ North America

As a member of NaturaLista, the Mexican iNat network, I've noticed that some English-speaking users have recently begun to mark common names for some species as valid in "North America". What these users may not be aware of is that, when using this geographic mark, the common English names overrule the vernacular names in other North American languages. This is the case in Spanish, and I assume it is the same problem in French and Dutch.

Example:

The species Lythrum salicaria has the common Spanish name "arroyuela", without geographic indication.
It has the common English name "Purple Loosestrife", marked as valid in North America.
NaturaLista, as well as iNat in Spanish, display the English name instead of the Spanish one.
Even if the Spanish name were marked as valid in Mexico, it would be overruled by the broader area of North America. Also, the English name would still be valid in Quebec, in Panama, in Sint Maarten etc.

My suggestions:

  • Stop using the "North America" tag as meaning only Canada and the US. It is misleading and Anglocentric.
  • Create a location defined as "English North America", "Anglo-America" or something similar. Consider that the first would also include Belize and the English-speaking islands, and the second one Guyana, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, additionally.
  • Invert the priority of the validity of common names, so that the names defined for smaller areas overrule the names defined for bigger ones.

What do you think?

Publicado el agosto 22, 2018 03:38 TARDE por bodofzt bodofzt | 17 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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