Which is correct?
Harris's Sparrow, Harris' Sparrow, or Harris Sparrow?
"We are as often injured as benefited by our systems, for, to speak the truth, no human system is a true one, and a name is at most a mere convenience and carries no information with it. As soon as I begin to be aware of the life of any creature, I at once forget its name. To know the names of creatures is only a convenience to us at first, but so soon as we have learned to distinguish them, the sooner we forget their names the better, so far as any true appreciation of them is concerned."
- Henry David Thoreau
Do you agree with Thoreau?
posted by Mike McDowell @ 1:47 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
I have Thoreau quoted on two of my blogs - but yes, I am inclined to agree w him. Lovely photo!
Sometimes I do...Go ahead and call it what you want they may change the name later anyway. I still keep calling it a solitary vireo...oldsq...well you know how it goes.
I would use the first spelling, but whatever the spelling, I would like to see one sooner rather than later.
Zonotrichia querula ;^)
Good one!
Mike M.
This is reminiscent of a famous story from physicist Richard Feynman, wherein his dad teaches him at a young age that knowing the names of birds doesn't mean you know anything of significance about a bird, and that it is what you observe about the behavior, anatomy, physiology of a bird that is important, not the memorization of names in particular languages. Names have their uses of course, but they don't represent knowledge, nor "appreciation."
Agree with HDT? Usually I do; regarding names, I dunno - it's just what we do, right? At any rate the image is gorgeous.
I'll take a different approach to your question (though, I disagree with Thoreau on this one - learning/assigning the name can be the first step in learning about the object - the labels used to distinguish one object from another allows us to communicate what we observe).
Grammatically, the old school of thought would use the possessive "s" after "Harris." This, in fact, is the first rule set forth in Strunk and White's Elements of Style. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's bird guide follows this rule when identifying the bird.
Other style manuals give a different approach. An old edition of the Harbrace College Handbook that I keep on my desk (I came to accept the fact that I'm a geek a long time ago) states that "if a singular noun ends in "s," add the aprostrophe and "s" or only the apostrophe. Under this rule, either "Harris's Sparrow" or "Harris' Sparrow" would be correct.
The rule set forth in the Harbrace College Handbook can be seen in the Chicago Manual of Style (see 6.19). The Manual points out that the general rule applies to "most proper nouns, including most names ending in sibilants." The examples set forth would suggest using "Harris's Sparrow."
A friend of mine who is an English Professor likes to explain to me that the rules of grammer are always changing, and that we shouldn't be overly concerned about an improper usage so long as you are effectively communicating your point.
As for me, I would probably label the bird "Harris' Sparrow," but would not be critical of those who would use "Harris's Sparrow."
Miek, my apologies for the long comment. You posed an interesting question. I would not be offended if you decided not to post this.
Cheers.
I love Thoreau, but I also love knowing as much as possible about the nature around me, so knowing names makes it all the more special and real to me. But I'm no Thoreau!
I'd go with Harris' sparrow; Harris's sparrow is actually the same thing, written in a different (older and more traditional) style. Kind-of like saying "burnt" instead of "burned." Both are correct, but "burnt" is the older, and "burned" is the newer form. BTW, back when I worked in publishing, we used Chicago Manual of Style, which would've made it Harris's.
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