Quote:
Originally Posted by dwnielsen
I'm not speaking of thousands. My point is that the major bodies of the solar system should include figures that have had a major influence on world tradition, and attempt to maintain a sense of order and consistency.
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This is your opinion, rather than a fundamental principle. Yes?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwnielsen
We cannot easily see back that far, although some have tried and done a pretty respectable job of constructing a unified world tradition (Santillana/Dechend and many others). It is not yet entirely consistent and ordered. The ideas must grow out naturally. I do not think that the current naming will be the best possible, but it is at least a stepping stone to a better one.
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So you propose a continuous process of renaming?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwnielsen
It's not really a pun; both were discovered on the declared day of Easter.
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Indeed. So the word
Easter has multiple associations when spoken with reference to Makemake. A pun, according to the
Oxford English Dictionary, is a word used so as to "suggest two or more meanings or different associations". It may not be as laboured and excruciating as the puns in childish jokes, but it's a pun nevertheless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwnielsen
And we are permitted to ignore them.
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Of course. There's something of a cottage industry in ignoring the IAU these days. But I think your first aim must be to convince us that we
should ignore them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwnielsen
Half the human population approximately is female.
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And the other half is male. Venus does a terrible job of representing them. She does an even poorer job of representing the sex distribution of the gods. We can find a reason to reject any name we dislike, if we use your "sampling" argument.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwnielsen
Venus comes from Latin meaning "to come" and is related to many words still used every day by us.
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More to do with attractiveness and love in Latin, I think. But this is a parochial argument based on the happenstance that you speak an Indo-European language. Why should speakers from other language groups be impressed?
Grant Hutchison