[QUOTE=Dr. Drake]
I am a native speaker of English, and I can assure you that there are indeed seagulls. I’ve seen them. We commoners use the word as a collective name for some or all of those white, sea-going squawk birds that are not terns or geese or something. If you’re going to argue that there is no seagull that could not be more precisely described by herring gull, laughing gull, etc., well, I’m with you, but to say that there’s no such thing as a seagull is stupid. (And yes, I agree that “gull” is a better term than “seagull” for the generic, but there’s a lot of things I’d change about the language were I in charge.)
[/QUOTE]
David Attenborough uses the term ‘seagull’ - it’s therefore more than good enough for me.
Sure everyone uses the word seagull, it’s probably in the dictionary, but there is no actual species called a seagull. A better term is simply gull because it is more accurate. Most gulls are coastal species and are rarely found way out at sea.
As for pood, perhaps Lobsang meant that the bird dropped a large Russian weight on his car?
[QUOTE=Wile E]
Sure everyone uses the word seagull, it’s probably in the dictionary, but there is no actual species called a seagull. A better term is simply gull because it is more accurate. Most gulls are coastal species and are rarely found way out at sea.
[/QUOTE]
Sure, but when you go to the coast, the sea is there. Most people’s experience of the sea is coastal.
I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that the term is adequate for ornithologists, but for the man in the street “a seagull shat on my car” is not wrong. There’s no species called a bear or a fish either.
And I disagree that ‘gull’ is a better conversational term - it’s too short a word - too easily lost or misunderstood in the flow of words - besides, if you say “a gull shat on my car”, 95% of people will just ask “you mean a seagull?”, so it’s a waste of effort.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Sure, but when you go to the coast, the sea is there. Most people’s experience of the sea is coastal.
I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that the term is adequate for ornithologists, but for the man in the street “a seagull shat on my car” is not wrong. There’s no species called a bear or a fish either.
And I disagree that ‘gull’ is a better conversational term - it’s too short a word - too easily lost or misunderstood in the flow of words - besides, if you say “a gull shat on my car”, 95% of people will just ask “you mean a seagull?”, so it’s a waste of effort.
[/QUOTE]
Ever heard of a Polar bear? Black bear? Grizzly bear? Goldfish? You probably have but you’ve never heard of a Herring Seagull, Laughing Seagull, etc.
Okay, fine you go on saying seagull but next time you exclaim in public “That seagull just shat on me!”, don’t be surprised if someone in the crowd rolls their eyes, offers no sympathy and corrects your phrasing. Birders can be quite picky.
[QUOTE=Wile E]
Ever heard of a Polar bear? Black bear? Grizzly bear? Goldfish? You probably have but you’ve never heard of a Herring Seagull, Laughing Seagull, etc.
Okay, fine you go on saying seagull but next time you exclaim in public “That seagull just shat on me!”, don’t be surprised if someone in the crowd rolls their eyes, offers no sympathy and corrects your phrasing. Birders can be quite picky.
[/QUOTE]
Better than everyone rolling their eyes when I say “That Herring Gull just shat on me!”
[QUOTE=Lobsang]
Better than everyone rolling their eyes when I say “That Herring Gull just shat on me!”
[/QUOTE]
They wouldn’t roll their eyes. They’d say “That guy knows his bird species! That’s pretty hot! I should ask him out … er, on second thought no, he’s covered in gull poop.”.
[QUOTE=Wile E]
Okay, fine you go on saying seagull but next time you exclaim in public “That seagull just shat on me!”, don’t be surprised if someone in the crowd rolls their eyes, offers no sympathy and corrects your phrasing. Birders can be quite picky.
[/QUOTE]
Good. They can pick the droppings of the Lesser Laughing Seagull off their clothes after I fling said poop at them.
How effing precise do we have to be in describing birds whose idea of fine cuisine is collecting tidbits at the local landfill?
[QUOTE=Wile E]
Ever heard of a Polar bear? Black bear? Grizzly bear? Goldfish? You probably have but you’ve never heard of a Herring Seagull, Laughing Seagull, etc.
[/quote]
So would you like me to find a more closely analogous example? I’m sure there will be some.
So you just didn’t read the bit where I said I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that the term is adequate for ornithologists. Anyone rolling their eyes at the conversational use of such a commonly used and understood term is just going to be making a fool of themself.
Wow, you guys really take your pit threads too seriously some times.
I thought I was pretty obvious about being silly but apparently not. So here ya go …
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
Yeah, now you’re talking. “Shat” is a great word.
[/QUOTE]
What is this, the middle ages? How about dumped a steamer?
Fuck. Shat, begat it’s all the same thing.
P.S. Did you wipe the damn shit off yet? You better get with it man, that stuff will take off your paint eventually. Off your “bonnet”. Man, that bonnet shit kills me.
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen]
Sheesh. I saw that Lobsang posted, and I thought for sure that He would be giving us an update on the status of the offending ornament.
[/QUOTE]
I tried Mangetout’s tip. Worked a treat.
And moved my car out of the fly-zone (or perch-in-tree-and-shit-zone)
But since then I’ve been preoccupied with the fuel mileage. I think I have an over-enthusiastic fuel guage.
p.s. Thanks M.
[QUOTE=Omegaman]
What is this, the middle ages? How about dumped a steamer?
Fuck. Shat, begat it’s all the same thing.
P.S. Did you wipe the damn shit off yet? You better get with it man, that stuff will take off your paint eventually. Off your “bonnet”. Man, that bonnet shit kills me.
[/QUOTE]
My last car got shat on by a MNA with diamond-tipped poo. My windscreen wiper grabbed the diamond and carved a nice neat curve out of my windscreen.
it was in that car that I learned to clean the stuff off NOT with wipers.
