Comments on: Brontosaurus Returns http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/06/brontosaurus-returns/ Where Paleontology Meets Pop Culture Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:48:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: Ilja http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/06/brontosaurus-returns/comment-page-1/#comment-6529 Ilja Sat, 09 Jun 2012 08:23:53 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7972#comment-6529 One of the good things about Google books ngrams is that it is case sensitive. If you enter 'brontosaurus' and 'apatosaurus' in lowercase, you will probably get a more representative picture of colloquial use (since lowercase virtually excludes scientific use) of the names, and <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/314182/bronto_small.png" rel="nofollow">a far more extreme result</a>. But to put things in perspective, <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/314182/iguanodon.png" rel="nofollow">this is revealing, too</a>. One of the good things about Google books ngrams is that it is case sensitive. If you enter ‘brontosaurus’ and ‘apatosaurus’ in lowercase, you will probably get a more representative picture of colloquial use (since lowercase virtually excludes scientific use) of the names, and a far more extreme result. But to put things in perspective, this is revealing, too.

]]> By: HP http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/06/brontosaurus-returns/comment-page-1/#comment-6515 HP Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:26:34 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7972#comment-6515 Speaking of brontosaurs in pop culture, I'm surprised you haven't mentioned Howard Hawks's 1938 screwball comedy <i>Bringing Up Baby.</i> Everyone remembers Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and the eponymous leopard, but the missing intercostal clavicle of a brontosaurus is the MacGuffin that drives the plot. Speaking of brontosaurs in pop culture, I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned Howard Hawks’s 1938 screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby. Everyone remembers Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and the eponymous leopard, but the missing intercostal clavicle of a brontosaurus is the MacGuffin that drives the plot.

]]> By: Zhen http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/06/brontosaurus-returns/comment-page-1/#comment-6513 Zhen Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:12:17 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7972#comment-6513 *puts on hipster glasses* No! Go away Brontosaurus. Only Apatosaurus for me! And damn you spell check from trying to tell me Apatosaurus isn't a real word but Brontosaurus is!!!! *puts on hipster glasses*

No! Go away Brontosaurus. Only Apatosaurus for me!

And damn you spell check from trying to tell me Apatosaurus isn’t a real word but Brontosaurus is!!!!

]]> By: Mike Taylor http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/06/brontosaurus-returns/comment-page-1/#comment-6512 Mike Taylor Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:39:13 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7972#comment-6512 We named <i>Brontomerus</i> partly in tribute to the lost and lamented name <i>Brontosaurus</i>. We named Brontomerus partly in tribute to the lost and lamented name Brontosaurus.

]]>