Supermarket sweep leads to wheel-wearer with two penises.
- New island designation – is it just greenwash? - 26th April, 2024
- Police and Crime Commissioners – a solution or a problem? - 21st April, 2024
- Trespassers won’t be prosecuted: do you have a right of access to the beach? - 25th March, 2024
Scientific names – what’s the point, eh? Why don’t we just all call things by their proper names, and then it would all be much simpler, wouldn’t it? Well actually no, it wouldn’t. Especially anywhere where the same thing is being described in two or more languages. The Ranger has only been involved in a few international conservation efforts, and you’d better believe that schoolboy French and hand-waving pretty soon finds its limits when trying to describe a bittern, or a certain type of seagrass. You know, that seagrass, the long, green stuff, grows by the sea… oh, for goodness sakes, Spartina maritima. Yes, yes, now you know it don’t you? Or even if you don’t, it wouldn’t be too hard to find out. So scientific names have their uses, without a doubt, and today The Ranger discovered another one unexpectedly whilst perusing the freezer compartment of the supermarket, where he found this:
Mmm, langoustines, and only
Oh maybe not, unless it’s a burger and the shop is run by a cannibal…
If you ever have the delight of visiting the Wing Yip Chinese supermarket in Croydon, scientific names are useful, but only if you have a scientific dictionary to hand. There are rows upon rows of freezer cabinets containing packs of strange tentacly/beaky/antenna-ey creatures with only Chinese and Latin on them. But I don’t even know what Bos taurus or Psoas major are! Solanum tuberosum is a potato so I guess the local chip shop may hold the answer….