# The Return of the Brontosaurus! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036 "2015-04-07T13:57:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/41 "2015-04-08T05:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > …The Gorgons were not only monsters, they were also highly talented authors. > > Medusa began it. > > She wrote _Forever Granite_. > > But soon Stheno and Euryale were writing, too, and they addressed her in daily choruses, > > Saying we are three literary sisters just like the Brontës so instead of Gorgons why can’t we be brontësauruses?.. > > [Medusa replied] You two can be what you like, but since I am the big fromage in this family, I prefer to think of myself as the Gorgon Zola. –from _Medusa and the Mot Juste_ by Ogden Nash. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/42 "2015-04-08T06:57:27Z")
Giant panda are _bears???_ ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/43 "2015-04-08T07:06:51Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > You made the baby Thesaurus\* cry. …cry, weep, wail, lament, sob, howl, snivel, keen, blubber, bawl. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/44 "2015-04-08T12:00:55Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > –from _Medusa and the Mot Juste_ by Ogden Nash. Craig Swanson’s image of Gorgon Zola: [http://www.zazzle.com/gorgon\_zola\_shirt-235431545973410624](http://www.zazzle.com/gorgon_zola_shirt-235431545973410624) [http://www.zazzle.com/gorgon\_zola\_poster\_or\_print-228481622824999826](http://www.zazzle.com/gorgon_zola_poster_or_print-228481622824999826) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/45 "2015-04-08T12:35:24Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Giant panda are _bears???_ Yep, and Red Pandas are not bears or racoons but probably and this is subject to on-going debate and research in a stand-alone family most closely related to the Procyonidae (racoon) family. Both families at least for now placed under the superfamily Musteloidea that includes the weasels and skunks. On thing for sure about the Red Pandas, they are really cute. On the Giant Panda, they are absolutely bears but there is no reason not to consider them pandas as panda has no scientific meaning and is a fair tag for two not closely related animals native to China that look somewhat similar. There is a lot of reworking of where animals fit into the biological classifications. Red Panda have been bounced about quite a bit but Great Pandas have been bears for quite some time now. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/46 "2015-04-08T12:37:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > A whipcrack, as has long been speculated, turns out to be a mini sonic boom From a bronto tail, the sonic boom might not be so mini. Probably not weapons grade, but still pretty damn cool, and it just _has_ to be in the next \*Jurassic Park \*sequel. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/47 "2015-04-08T12:51:41Z")
Actually, all this stuff about primacy in naming requiring us to change the name from “brontosaurus” to “Apatosaurus” has always struck me as absurd. People can use whatever _popular_ name they want – it’s the scientific classification that follows those rules. The public couldn’t care less about the Apatosaur, anyway. Case in point: The **Platypus**. Technically, by the same process that stripped the Bronto of its name, it isn’t. English zoologist assigned the name _platypus_ to that duck-billed Australian monotreme in 1799. It was later found that the name (meaning “broad foot”) had already been assigned to a beetle. The official genus became _Ornithorhynchus_ (“Bird-billed”), a designation givenm it in 1800 by zoologist Johann Blumenbach. And so it remains. But nobody calls it an “Ornithorhynchus”. It’s a _Platypus_, a name that seems to fit. It didn’t bother people that the Linnaean name and the popular name are different, and there’s never been a call to change the popular name over. Pedants don’t harass the General Public with using the wrong name. So why should they ever have made such a fuss over the Brontosaurus. They had a case about the head being wrong, but I’ll bet most people are still unaware of that (although museums have been trying to set the record straight for decades, now) > **[Platypus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus)** > > The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species appear in the fossil record. > Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, mammals that lay eggs instea... ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/48 "2015-04-08T12:53:45Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > You made the baby Thesaurus\* cry. Is that the one with the long, dangling participles? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/49 "2015-04-08T13:25:25Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Is that the one with the long, dangling participles? Only in _Bored of the Rings_ > [@](#): > > “Murder, Mutilate, Mangle SEE _Harm_!” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/50 "2015-04-08T13:42:48Z")
Another thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=753810](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=753810) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/51 "2015-04-08T14:09:25Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > FWIW, though, I know someone whose Great Dane took out an entertainment center by wagging his tail. As a Great Dane owner, rule number one is "nothing lose/breakable is to be out from the hips down. Actually our biggest problem with the Danes was that they would wag their tails, nail the counters/walls/fridge and cut them open. Blood would fly everywhere! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/52 "2015-04-08T15:03:32Z")
Two Bronto threads merged. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/53 "2015-04-08T15:39:00Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Two Bronto threads merged. Oh, no! A two-headed brontosaur! > **[Mystery in Space #62 (Issue)](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/mystery-in-space-62/4000-4949/)** > **[Mystery in Space Vol 1 62](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Mystery_in_Space_Vol_1_62)** > > "Adam Strange: "The Beast with the Sizzling Blue Eyes!"": As Alanna waits for Adam Strange's arrival on Rann there is a sudden flash of bright light and she soon finds herself in a jungle in front of a giant lizard, the likes of which have not been... ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/54 "2015-04-08T15:42:58Z")
The picture’s pretty bleak, gentlemen. The world’s climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/55 "2015-04-08T15:48:34Z")
Appropriately plodding theme song for this thread: [The Move–Brontosaurus](https://youtu.be/RVaqMCUMkN8?t=20s) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/56 "2015-04-08T16:41:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Actually, all this stuff about primacy in naming requiring us to change the name from “brontosaurus” to “Apatosaurus” has always struck me as absurd. People can use whatever _popular_ name they want – it’s the scientific classification that follows those rules. The public couldn’t care less about the Apatosaur, anyway. True, but pedantic assholes will correct you, which is annoying as you cant kill them in this State. 😛 Jut like the ones that call Birds= Dinosaurs. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/57 "2015-04-08T17:06:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > True, but pedantic assholes will correct you, which is annoying as you cant kill them in this State. 😛 > > Jut like the ones that call Birds= Dinosaurs. You’ve never had to deal with an angry parrot. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/58 "2015-04-08T17:13:39Z")
I’ve always liked the Brontosaurus because that was probably the first dinosaur I learned about. Apatosaurus is such a stupid name, I’ve always thought they should have just renamed it the Brontosaurus and let that other name die ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/59 "2015-04-08T17:49:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > True, but pedantic assholes will correct you, which is annoying as you cant kill them in this State. 😛 > > Jut like the ones that call Birds= Dinosaurs. Do you mean the people who reply to statements like “I wish dinosaurs were still around” with “well they are, all birds are”? If so I guess that is annoying but I find the “Brontosaurus is wrong” crowd far worse as they were actually wrong and it was never incorrect to use the term. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036/60 "2015-04-08T17:56:23Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Do you mean the people who reply to statements like “I wish dinosaurs were still around” with “well they are, all birds are”? > > If so I guess that is annoying but I find the “Brontosaurus is wrong” crowd far worse as they were actually wrong and it was never incorrect to use the term. Yes. I dont mind a scientific book pointing out that bird are technically dinos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-brontosaurus/717036.md?page=4)