Good ones.
And gorilla isn’t really descriptive; it’s a reference to an old Carthaginian legend.
I have been known to cry out, “Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus!” but only when appropriate.
Many, many minerals are only known from one or a very limited set of localities. And can only be distinguished from others that are identical-looking in the field on the basis of lab-based geochemical testing. That’s if you could even see them in the field - many minerals are only known from microscopic-sized samples.
So it’s not unusual for someone to point a microprobe or similar machine at a sample and find something new.
There’s a good discussion here that goes into more detail , if you’re interested:
Please tell me her epitaph reads “I got a rock.”
Utterly fascinating.
For awhile, my oldest sister wanted to change her name to Metasequoia glyptostroboides.
James Tiptree, Jr.'s daughter named herself “Marmot” IIRC. Metasequoia has a nice ring to it.
When my daughter was about 5 or 6, she announced she wanted to change her name to ‘Hollyhock’ (after I told her the name of the plant she had been admiring). I immediately started calling her Hollyhock. She changed her mind after about 10 minutes but I carried on calling her that for the rest of the day, arguing that you’re only allowed to change your name one time.
To pick nits- it was Alice Bradley Sheldon’s daughter. James Tiptree, Jr is an imaginary person.
At least she didn’t rename herself Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack.
When my daughter was in first grade, there was a girl in her class who wanted to change her name to ChickenWing. My daughter was aghast, she couldn’t believe how bad the girl was. I discussed the situation with her and pointed out that calling her ChickenWing wasn’t really a big ask.
She started calling her ChickenWing, and a few other classmates followed suit. ChickenWing was pleased, but the teacher was pissed off. Then ChickenWing stopped coming to school, eventually getting placed into an alternative school for kids like ChickenWing.
James Tiptree Jr was a pen name, not an imaginary person. Right?
Well, they better not stomp around in my flower garden, or I’ll spray them with my Dino-repellent!
And Sheldon also called herself “Racoona”, so naming oneself after small mammals was already an established family tradition.
Anyone who dubs themself Raccoona Sheldon has to be someone special. I’ve only read one short story by her, but it made a deep impression: The Women Men Don’t See. Told from the completely convincing perspective of a male narrator.
Most of her stories seem to be about gender relations, in one way or another.
I believe the entire biography supplied was accurate. It just kind of left out the pronouns.
Same difference.
There’s a difference. An imaginary person is wholly invented. A pseudonym or pen name is just a false name for a real person.