Comments

  1. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Learned a lot from the lecture/discussion. Planning on tuning in next week.

    Funny how the Peterson fanboi changed his tune once the hard questions were asked.

  2. cartomancer says

    Shame I missed the first half, and I’m not going to be able to make next weekend’s one in real time either. Oh well, I finally figured out how to participate in the chat at least – progress!

  3. Owlmirror says

    I have to admit that “Ediacaran” is a word that until today, I don’t think I’d ever pronounced, or heard pronounced.

    So I’ve been saying it in my head as something like “eh-dee-ah-cah-ran”, and it was a bit of a shock to hear PZ say it more like “ee-dee-ack-ran”.

    I went to the Wiki page, which linked to a podcast on the Ediacaran biota, and at first I was all relieved because it was pronounced more like the first way. But the host of the programme (“In Our Time”), isn’t a geologist or a palaeontologist, and I suspect that he read the word without having heard it before, the same way I did, and the professionals present adjusted their pronunciation out of deference to him. Indeed, I am pretty sure I heard one of the speakers start to say it the second way, then quickly change to the first way.

    One of the first Youtube videos on the topic, from BBC Earth, definitely pronounces the term the second way.

    Grumble.

  4. John Morales says

    Owlmirror, descriptive, prescriptive, etymological. We both know about those.

    I myself have only encountered the term in writing, and I’m with you in my naive expectation.

    (Easy enough to check online, though it might lead to a laurel/yanni scenario. I haven’t.)

  5. Phrenomythic Productions says

    This was great! I would have like to have joined the hangout itself too, but I was too hung up with taking care of my family and household. Also, I couldn’t figure out where to send my e-mail for an invite, because I’m stupid. Better luck next time!