Re: Did you just agree with me on something???wow

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Posted by paalexan on August 05, 2002 at 15:49:34:

In Reply to: Did you just agree with me on something???wow posted by jeff schofield on August 05, 2002 at 13:27:45:

:Patrick,I could not get good close-up pics of the snakes today as they simply didnt want to cooperate. Instead of focusing on what we dont agree on lets fous on what we DO.

Okay.

: My FIRST post was an effort to have other ratsnake enthusiasts re-examine the NAMING of a gene "HYPO". While you have argued definition, I have tried to focus on the issue. In your last post you even say that naming a morph"HYPO" isnt very correct. THAT is what this thread is about.

That's a matter of grammar and definition, though. : ) In my first post on this subject I said that `hypomelanistic' isn't the name of a morph or a gene, but simply a description of an animal's coloration. To be honest, I don't think I've heard anyone other than you talk about `hypomelanistic' as though it were a name of a morph or gene. If other people have done so, I agree that it's a silly idea... but, so far as I can tell, when people say `hypomelanistic Everglades rat snake' the grammatical form is just the same as if they'd said `really long Everglades rat snake' or `mean Everglades rat snake'... not a new proper name of that kind of snake, just the name of the subspecies with an adjective in front of it... and the adjective's just an adjective whether there happens to be a genetic basis for the trait described by it or not.

: My name is Jeff and to describe me as Jeff, no matter how correct, will NEVER be able to describe me.

Well, `Jeff' doesn't describe you because it's a proper name rather than an adjective. : )

: That is my exact point in reference to the "HYPO"designation.

I don't see where you're going here... `hypomelanistic' does describe hypomelanistic snakes. It's not a complete description, mind you, but, then again, a complete description of any snake would be a small book...

: And while we are at it(re-naming the morph) why dont we test to see if it is "albino". This is not as easy as looking at it, but it would be better to try to have a consesus among the people working with it as they have the most experience wouldnt you say?

Uniform terminology is certainly a good thing, but until we have multiple genetic bases for hypomelanism, I don't see what good it does you to have a name associated with the gene that causes hypomelanism. You don't need a name for something when it's the only one of that kind of thing you have...

Patrick Alexander

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