Sephalotes v's kephalotes
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:48 pm
Are you a 'k' man (or woman) or an 's' man!
I know I am dumming down this section of the forum and this and the previous post are not strictly in the vain of Taxonomic Chatter but still, these things keep me awake at night! My Psychiatrist says this is why they keep locking me up! But when I was working on Planet Ant I had a moment of crisis. Prof. Adam Hart, a leading expert on Leaf Cutters, introduced himself to me and started talking about Atta 's'ephalotes. I always pronounce the cephalotes as if it is spelt kephalotes. So I was a little taken aback because I was the Atta consultant for the whole project and I was experiencing a this mental breakdown because I suddenly imagined that all these years I had been making a fool of myself by pronouncing the very thing I proported to be an expert in, wrongly! So I immediately started researching this very topic and basically came up with the conclusion that the word can be pronouced either way, starting with a k or an s. So now, when I meet people, I always make sure I say the name first and very confidently so that any silent 'Oh Sh*t' moment happens inside their head and not mine. Call it a protection mechanism to preserve my sanity. Anyways,,,,,, which one are you?
I know I am dumming down this section of the forum and this and the previous post are not strictly in the vain of Taxonomic Chatter but still, these things keep me awake at night! My Psychiatrist says this is why they keep locking me up! But when I was working on Planet Ant I had a moment of crisis. Prof. Adam Hart, a leading expert on Leaf Cutters, introduced himself to me and started talking about Atta 's'ephalotes. I always pronounce the cephalotes as if it is spelt kephalotes. So I was a little taken aback because I was the Atta consultant for the whole project and I was experiencing a this mental breakdown because I suddenly imagined that all these years I had been making a fool of myself by pronouncing the very thing I proported to be an expert in, wrongly! So I immediately started researching this very topic and basically came up with the conclusion that the word can be pronouced either way, starting with a k or an s. So now, when I meet people, I always make sure I say the name first and very confidently so that any silent 'Oh Sh*t' moment happens inside their head and not mine. Call it a protection mechanism to preserve my sanity. Anyways,,,,,, which one are you?