Elongated yellow vegetable
Granted, the main hed* says "spider," so we probably don't want to repeat it if we can help it. But if we must -- it's an arachnid, not an insect.Nor are we out of the sock drawer yet. Yes, the discovery "could" mean the spider is relocating. On the other hand, since the article acknowledges that "small groups of brown recluse** live in the state" already, maybe it doesn't.
* "Eek factor jumps as rare spider spotted in state."
** Since this isn't the outdoor section, and spiders aren't mooses, let's make it "recluses."
Labels: elongated yellow fruit
posted by fev at 10:03 PM
3 Comments:
Yet another example of a distinction relevant to taxonomists that the vast majority of the readership neither knows nor cares about.
The larger point is that writer lose their credibility by being wrong about details, especially in big type. When you write you should write accurately. If you don't, you ask the reader to sort through the chaff to get to the grain, which encourages readers to disparage -- and stop buying -- the product.
Do you restrict the noun "bug" to Hemiptera exclusively, as entomologists do, and never use it when referring to beetles (Coleoptera), bees and ants (Hymenoptera), or flies and mosquitos (Diptera)?
Didn't think so.
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