Check it out — it’s the Paleobet!
It is a little awkward to discover this late in life that the “p” is silent.
Now, at last, you know what my initials really stand for
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Lets see, that makes me Doedicurus Laggania.
Hence forth you will be known as (…)Z Myers
Mr Data, make it so
His ‘P’ is silent – but apparently I stutter.
Oh, I think we can agree that the P is never silent around here.
Hey, I just got my hands on the latest issue of Answers magazine from Answers in Genesis. Darwin is their cover boy — and it’s all about combating the celebration of Darwin’s bicentennial with the truth. As they see it, of course. They exhort “good people” to oppose evolution. Pity, that. Most of the good people I know are evolutionists.
‘F’ is the Fuck You Raptor.
I wonder if Randall Munroe is aware.
Charming illustrations! I hope she does a children’s ABC book with them…my boys would have loved this when they were growing up.
“‘F’ is the Fuck You Raptor.”
Huh, I thought it was an exotic specimen found in Japan and named after the deadly pufferfish.
I guess I was naive. Those palaeontologists sure are potty mouths!
We have it easy with just two letter names! Although next time I’m subjected to the inevitable question of what my initials stand for, I’ll tell them Jobaria Calymene.
@#5
that is what happens when scientists are intoxicated, and need to name a new fossil.
Are both “P”s silent?
Apparently, I’m Doedicurus Smilodon, which would make me a sabre-toothed armadillo or something.
Hmm.
That’s because you’re a bloke …..
PZ, do you really want to be known as a fish-rat????
So, PZ – or should I say _Z – you’re like Psmith?
So you’d pronounce the name of that first critter p’terasis? I never realized that. ;)
I thought it meant Psoriasis Zombie Meyers. That totally made sense to me.
I do not accept this new information.
What? Clearly no feathers on Utahraptor! Boo! Hiss!
Seriously though, these are really cute, and I like the variety of paleofauna used. I wonder if my sister would object too much if I used them to teach her son the alphabet? :)
The “p” is silent – as in swimming pool…
Jebus… only 18 comments, and already 2 of you have beaten me to the P/pee joke. [sigh]
Hahaha, Ratfish. Great.
Still, I have to find a copy of this for my daughter’s room. Maybe KnowPlace sells them.
That’s nice, but what I’d like to see is an app where you enter your initials and it gives you a genus and species with the same initials. For example, Homer Simpson might get “Homo sapiens.”
I’m always amused when I see one of the Burgess Shale creatures & realize the origin of the name.
Eg: Laggans was an early name for the village of Lake Louise & there is now a Laggans Bakery there. Also there is a Mount Wapta & the Wapta icefields near the Burgess Shale fossil site.
I have a bunch of photos from hiking & ski trips in the area.
Jobaria Raphus Bifericeras
51° N 114° W
I like the paleobet very much! If I go with my nickname, Trish, I am Telicomys Laggania Calymene. But with my proper first name (Patricia) I get to be all marine, all the time, as Pteraspis Laggania Calymene. That make me happy, even if the P is silent. :)
“It is a little awkward to discover this late in life that the ‘p’ is silent.”
Not when I pronounce it!
Griphognathus Hesperornis Hesperornis
Fukuiraptor is pronounced “foo-koo-ee-rap-tor”, named after Fukui Prefecture in which it was found.
#17 Sclerophanax: not only unfeathered Utahraptor, but the dread spectre of Jurassic Park style “bunny hands” mars it and Fukuiraptor. For Darwin’s sake, folks, it is palms inward, not palms down!!
Telicomys Raphus Hesperornis
-36 below in Minnesota? PZ, are you frozen solid?
Apparently I’m Archaeopteryx Jobaria. You gotta admit there’s something awesome about a flying feathered sauropod.
Ugh! Sorry to bother everyone, but I just had to argue global warming denialist hogwash with a coworker.
Strib poll Is the Earth warming or cooling?
It’s cooling 36.1 %
Neither. It’s still its steady old self 39.1 %
It’s warming 24.6%
Anyone want to try fixing that?
.
Looks like I’d need to create a login & password.
You should alert the Catholics who have been using your full name in their terrifying emails. There’s a group who loves to be corrected.
No paleo plants. Hmpf.
I am a KENtrosaurus but I have to get back to my JOBaria!
“Put a creationist dentist in charge of the educational system”
There is method to this madness, it provides plenty
of docile and devout recruits for the armed forces.
Sorry, my previous post got missposted.
The ‘p’ is silent. As in ‘swimming’. This is a joke my grandmother thought hilariously funny back in the 1950’s.
Teaching kids about the letter ‘P’ using a word with a silent ‘P’: does that count as child abuse?
…but I named my third child “Paul Zachary” in your honour and NOW you’re telling me its not your real name.
Boy is she gonna be pissed when she grows up and I tell her.
Ha! Archaeopteryx Kentrosaurus Bifericeras here. Let’s see if anyone can out-awesome a flying cephalopod with spiked armor!!
Heh, cool. I’m Calymene Hesperornis Fukuiraptor. Now that’s a name!
Too bad they left the ‘d’ out of ‘Zalambdalestes…’
At first those pictures made me want a pet indricotherium, but it appears that plan is slightly impractical. Where would I keep a pet that’s 5.5 m tall at the shoulder, over a meter taller than the largest recorded elephant (and has a neck and head that can stretch even higher than that)? I’d have a bit of trouble patting him on the head when his head was 8 meters off the ground.
My last name does entitle me to the only cephalopod on the list, Bifericeras, though. I wonder if PZ is jealous…
‘aleobet?
Nobody’s yet pointed out the spelling error in Zalambddalestes. I didn’t spot any others in the ‘bet, though.
About that silent ‘p’. Ancient Greek did have a ‘pt’ sound. Modern English doesn’t. So we decided to drop the ‘p’ in ‘pt’ and get on with life.
Alas, I am no longer a valid genus, but my new “older” name Paraceratherium would be a great “P” for you PZ!
If I’d found a carnivorous bipedal dinosaur fossil in Japan that was that large, it wouldn’t be the fukuiraptor, it would be gojiraraptor.
Smilodon Megaloceros Archaeopteryx…
#46 Samantha Vimes:
Actually, there IS a dinosaur Gojirasaurus, but it is a) from the American Southwest and b) not particularly large (although it was one of the largest Late Triassic carnivorous dinosaurs, but that is damned by faint praise). It is of course named after Gojira; its describer, Ken Carpenter, was inspired to become a paleontologist when his mother took him to see the original movie when he was young.
Thanks for the link, and thanks so much for the suggestions and corrections, everybody! Forgive me on the raptors — I’m a Cambrian gal at heart, but I’ll learn :)
Rosemary, great job! I particularly like the Cambrian cartoon. I was tempted to do something like that but I really don’t have the imagination. Will you be doing more?
Where’s the paleo-Irishman, Peter O’Dactyl?