On flora and fauna
I've been in a scriptwriting meeting for most of the day, working with the Blueprint natural history team. We've been working on the script for the second programme in the series which deals with the colonisation of Ireland's landmass by flora and fauna, particularly following the ice age. Carole, Natalie, Paul, Andrew, Sinéad, Siobhan, Peter and I worked our way through the first draft of the programme's script, redesigning the structure of various sequences, debating whether contenious science topics should be included, and quibbling over wordchoice.
The scientific debate about whether ever connected Ireland to Britain dominated the discussion for about twenty minutes. Most experts now dispute this idea, and we certainly wish to reflect that fact; but we also want to explore the landbridge theory as a purported explanation of the presence of, for example, non-indigenous plants and animals.
In the midst of that highbrow debate, Carole wondered if viewers would understand that the expression "flora and fauna" means "plant and animals". She'd discovered, purely anecdotally, that many people don't realise that "" means animals. Instead, the combo-term is often taken to mean, simply, "plant-life".
The phrase, like so much of the terminology of biology and botany, was coined in this context by the , the father of modern scientific taxonomy (pictured). I wonder what he'd have made of the American couple I knew in New York who had two cats called Flora and Fauna.
Comments
I confess to not having fully explored the term's meaning before using it in discussion. I guess my practical working definition of 'flora and fauna' was 'local specimens of life', with plant life springing more quickly to mind than animal life. Now I can spread this knowledge to others in an educational manner, thus increasing my stature in others' eyes in a blatant attempt to impress them with my great intelligence.
I do this frequently when someone brings out a can of WD40. "Did you know," I would add at the earliest break in conversation, "that the name stands for Water Displacement, Formula number 40. Yep. Water Displacement. I guess they wanted to displace water. Formula number forty. Took them forty times to get it just right. Yup. Most people don't know that."
What a jackass.
If you're anxious for to shine
in the high aesthetic line
as a man of culture rare,
You must get up all the germs
of the transcendental terms,
and plant them ev'rywhere.
You must lie upon the daisies
and discourse in novel phrases
of your complicated state of mind,
The meaning doesn't matter if it's only idle chatter
of a transcendental kind.
And ev'ry one will say,
As you walk your mystic way,
"If this young man expresses himself
in terms too deep for me,
Why, what a very singularly deep young man
this deep young man must be!"
Be eloquent in praise of the very dull old days
which have long since passed away,
And convince 'em, if you can, that the reign
of good Queen Anne was Culture's palmiest day.
Of course you will pooh-pooh whatever's fresh and new,
and declare it's crude and mean,
For Art stopped short in the cultivated court
of the Empress Josephine.
And ev'ryone will say,
As you walk your mystic way,
"If that's not good enough for him
which is good enough for me,
Why, what a very cultivated kind
of youth this kind of youth must be!"
Then a sentimental passion of a vegetable fashion
must excite your languid spleen,
An attachment a la Plato for a bashful young potato,
or a not- too-French French bean!
Though the Philistines may jostle, you will rank
as an apostle in the high aesthetic band,
If you walk down Piccadilly with a poppy
or a lily in your medieval hand.
And ev'ryone will say,
As you walk your flow'ry way,
"If he's content with a vegetable love
which would certainly not suit me,
Why, what a most particularly pure young man
this pure young man must be!"
Will said
redesigning the structure of various sequences, debating whether contenious science topics should be included,>
I think we all understand Will - hopefully there'll be many creationists viewing and they have a problem with big scientific words!
There prob is a way of adding smilies here?
Mark:
You must be a G&S fanatic!
Apropos!
Michael
The scientific debate about whether landbridges ever connected Ireland to Britain dominated the discussion for about twenty minutes.
I seem to recall some time back debating the age of the earth with a physics student from Queens University on this blog. My point to him was that the biological clock in my DNA showed that my male ancestors had come from Europe into Ireland and then retreated to the Iberian peninsula during the iceage (my haplogroup is I1c in case Maureen is interested).
My point to the student was that they walked and did not need an ark.
Now which is it?
Regards,
Michael
Re 4
You meant WSG I presume?
Peace,
Maureen
I remember playing scrabble at a church week-end at Castle Erin in Portrush when JW was a wee boy and Buddy Holly was the star turn, that my wife completed the word fauna to protests that it wasn’t a word. I had to inform the others of the meaning and still there was disbelief.
Billy- I have good memories of the Castle Erin days. Hiding under tables, playing at Barry's, dodging the icy waves of the North Channel and much more. Good days... from what I can remember!
Here here John I will second that, GOOD DAYS !
Maureen writes
You meant WSG I presume?
Ooops yes, you are right!. I read the whole thing on line and thought it was really good. I hadn't come across it before.
Anyway the compliment to Mark still stands! I thought it was a very good piece.
Regards,
Michael
Hi Alan,
"I think we all understand Will - hopefully there'll be many creationists viewing and they have a problem with big scientific words!"
You're quite right there, but still their trouble with scientific words pales in comparison to their problems with (even the most basic) scientific CONCEPTS.
greets,
Peter
Hi Alan,
"I think we all understand Will - hopefully there'll be many creationists viewing and they have a problem with big scientific words!"
You're quite right there, but still their trouble with scientific words pales in comparison to their problems with (even the most basic) scientific CONCEPTS.
greets,
Peter
If you have sufficient patience you will find there is far more to Britain's cultural legacy to the world than the Spice Girls. I wonder if even one in a thousand Brits today would recognize anything by G&S.
#13. Mark, I know during my time at school, the school staged at least three G&S shows - and I remember going to see a couple at my brother's school as well.
Don't know if that was a local thing, or if schools across the UK use them for school productions - but that was where I first saw them.