linguistic notes from the raptor center
Sep. 6th, 2014 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
There's an osprey at the raptor center. It is eating, which is a very good sign, since most injured ospreys just don't. They have to be tease-fed or force-fed. It came in with a spinal injury, so its prospects for release are not great.
Do you say ospree or ospray? I have always heard ospree, but everyone at the raptor center says ospray. I wonder whether they are influenced by the 'prey' in Birds of Prey.
As I was cleaning a Great Horned Owl (GHOW) cage, I kept referring to the bird as "she" even though I don't know her sex. I couldn't figure it out from her case file, either. I did figure out that the gender neutral pronoun people use for birds is "bird". They'll often leave out the pronoun and write sentences like, "Bird was on A-frame when I entered the cage. Watched calmly while I cleaned," but when they need a pronoun they usually don't use "it" or "he" or "she", they write, "When I moved too close, bird flew to SE corner, missed the perch, stayed on the ground the rest of the time I was in the cage."
Do you say ospree or ospray? I have always heard ospree, but everyone at the raptor center says ospray. I wonder whether they are influenced by the 'prey' in Birds of Prey.
As I was cleaning a Great Horned Owl (GHOW) cage, I kept referring to the bird as "she" even though I don't know her sex. I couldn't figure it out from her case file, either. I did figure out that the gender neutral pronoun people use for birds is "bird". They'll often leave out the pronoun and write sentences like, "Bird was on A-frame when I entered the cage. Watched calmly while I cleaned," but when they need a pronoun they usually don't use "it" or "he" or "she", they write, "When I moved too close, bird flew to SE corner, missed the perch, stayed on the ground the rest of the time I was in the cage."
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Date: 2014-09-07 02:07 am (UTC)Fan went up to con suite. Other fan handed fan hot dog. Fan was pleased.
/had too much sugar today.
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Date: 2014-09-07 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-07 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-07 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-07 04:46 am (UTC)I like that as gender-neutral pronoun.
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Date: 2014-09-07 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-07 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-08 02:35 am (UTC)