Geologists Angry About New 'Pluton' Definition

An anonymous reader writes "According to a story over at Nature, some geologists are ticked off at the International Astronomical Union for using the word 'pluton' to describe a round object orbiting the sun with a period more than 200 years. A pluton, it seems, is a common type of rock formation that exists in most Geology 101 curricula. IAU head Owen Gingerich is quoted as saying that he was only peripherally aware of the definition, and because it didn't show up on MS Word's spell check, he didn't think it was that important."

Wow, that's an interesting take...

[snowgirl]

IAU head Owen Gingerich is quoted as saying that he was only peripherally aware of the definition, and because it didn't show up on MS Word's spell check, he didn't think it was that important.

In other news, the US Congress voted not to move to Linux, after Senator Binghaman discovered that MS Word's spell checker doesn't recognize it.

Oh lordy

[agent dero]

There's nothing worse than when rock geeks, and rocks in space geeks get into argument over vocabulary. ;)

BFD. That's what those numbers are for...

[NotQuiteReal]

The numbers in defintions of words that have more than one meaning...

1. n. some rock thingy that noone* cares about.
2. n. some astromomical thingy that nooone* cares about.

* by weight, not intellectual capacity.

obvious solution

[casehardened]

Today, the UFC brings you: Scientist Cage Match! My money's on the geologists. Despite their tendencies towards excessive beer consumption, at least they run around outdoors occasionally.

In not-so-related news...

[Espectr0]

Geologist goes postal against Ballmer, fights back, actually throwing his chair at him (oh the irony) for not including the world pluton in the ms word spellcheck.

Suggested replacements...

[Russ Steffen]

Plutrino
Plutonite
Mini-Pluto
iPluto Nano

MS Word?

[Mr_Tulip]

Since when is MS Word the definitive guide to the english language?

They should have googled it [google.com].

Sheesh, those astronomers sure are lacking in the geekiness department.

Re:say what now?

[kfg]

. . . does it actually merit a new word?

Yes, yes it does. Precision of technical terms is always desirable, so the trick is to find one that no one else is already using.

I suggest we look for some distinctive feature of Pluto and form the new word around that. Lesseeeeeee, it' been variously suggested that it's either an ex-moon of Neptune, or an ex-Kuiper belt object, so I suggest:

Exxon.

That one should be safe. I can' imagine anyone else wanting such an obviosly made up; and utterly stupid, word.

KFG

Re:Suggested replacements...

[kfg]

I'm just tickled pink that my Big Ass Round Things might yet live to be in the running.

At least until the residents of the Bay Area and the Wal-Mart shoppers join up to beat me senseless;

Which would obviously be redundant anyway.

KFG

Re:BFD. That's what those numbers are for...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, now define "nooone".

Re:Suggested replacements...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

pluton27 pluton234 pluton342 pluton542 pluton654 pluton8234

Re:Context

[x2A]

"Seriously though, the word 'nucleus' has several different definitions in different branches of science, and I've never had problems with it"

Well I do because I don't know which one you've never had a problem with! *ARGH*

Re:Done before...

[x2A]

They're just p***ed off because whilst they can share the name, they can't share the domain name!

Something I noticed

[Profane MuthaFucka]

They also renamed Uranus to Urectum.

Re:Oh lordy

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"There's nothing worse than when rock geeks, and rocks in space geeks get into argument over vocabulary. ;)"

See that lumpy formation on the back of yo mama's leg? It looks like a pluton!

Take that back, mother fucker!

Why is there such a problem?

[east coast]

I demand (DEMAND!) that everything that orbits the sun be called "natural space satellite" and that all other objects that do not orbit the sun be called a "space pebble" except for man made extra terrestrial matter that will be called "space junk" and that satellites of my newly termed "natural space satellite" be called a "remote natural space satellite" and that satellites of those satellites be called "remote natural space satellite subtype a [or b, c, d, e...]" and so on and so forth for satellites of satellites of satellites (and so on and so on...)

Now as for light within in the the heliosphere but not within the atmosphere of a satellite it must be called "space light type [star, phosphorescent gasses, space junk emitted]".

And the tails of comets must be re-termed as "debris of satellite [enter satellite name]" and that any solid particles put off in the tails of the comet over a half a gram must be termed "space pebble in the debris of satellite [enter satellite name]"

This of course will lead to the renaming of "meteor showers" to "space pebble fallout to natural space satellite Earth".

Furthermore we need to rename the "asteroid belt" to "natural space satellite collective between natural space satellite Mars and natural space satellite Jupiter". Objects within the "natural space satellite collective between natural space satellite Mars and natural space satellite Jupiter" that are not residence of "natural space satellite collective between natural space satellite Mars and natural space satellite Jupiter" for at least 300 years at a time must be rename "temporary natural space satellite not wholly belonging to the natural space satellite collective between natural space satellite Mars and natural space satellite Jupiter".

And this is just the tip of the iceberg! I have a million ideas on how we can further fuck up the order of things by bickering and fighting over some random bullshit that isn't going to make the slightest bit of difference under the sun.

Hold on! Damn it! A pebble is a rock formation! Jesus! My entire idea is for nothing! God damn those geologists!

Re:Perhaps next time

[Tatarize]

Maybe the geologists shouldn't name shit associated with Roman Gods. The damned astronomers called dibs years ago!

Re:BFD. That's what those numbers are for...

[Tatarize]

It still will cause problems.

Because of their distance from the Sun (and lack of magma), plutons typically lack plutons. So a pluton such as Pluto and its pluton Charon, would both likely be devoid of any plutons.

Re:BFD. That's what those numbers are for...

[Tatarize]

If you use the same word for too many things you end up failing to understand which Marklar Marklar was talking about, so some Marklar might not understand what the Marklar Marklar was talking about.

You mean?

[Anonymous Coward]

joule: (n) a gemstone, such as amber, from which energy can be generated

candella: (n) a scented candle, usually used to illuminate bubble baths

angstrom: (n) a digital write-once medium for storing memories of fear and anxiety

Re:opening a can of worms....

[goltrpoat]

In this way I also seperate the real nerds from the 'wannabes'. A real nerd uses crack

Now you tell me.

-goltrpoat

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[Kemanorel]

Of course, on some planets, that could go like this...

"Hey, check out this here marklar on this here marklar."

Although, would a Marklar use the marklar "here" in his marklars?

Re:I'm sort of embarrased

[lxs]

As a burglar, I'm furious of geology's use of the word "intrusion".

For what it's worth, as a mathematician, I'm furious at the use of the word "matrix" by geologists, "integration" by sociologists, "differentiation" by biologists, the use of the word "domain" by web users, and the use of the verb "to commute" by ordinary people stuck in traffic.

Then again, I'd better watch out for those geologists, they walk around with pointy hammers in their pocket.

 

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[Nutria]

Travel to the outside world

Why would I travel out of the greatest, best, most wonderful country ever?

Well, ok, Prague makes the best beer, and Belgium is right up there. But other than that...

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[monsted]

Yeah, please stay home and we can avoid having to widen the doors in the rest of the world ;)

Re:obvious solution

[LiquidCoooled]

The problem with this is that astrologists are campers.
They obsessively watch their scopes for the perfect kill.

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[taigatanima]

Decimal measurement systems? As opposed to what... Binary? Octal? Good old hex? It's only 0F13 miles from New York to Paris, you know.

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[Creepy]

There's a lot of bad blood between astronomers and geologists going back to the abbreviation AU - astronomers call it an "astronomical unit," while geologists call it gold (latin: aurum). Then there's using the greek alphabet to describe light phenomina instead of radioactive decay - that's got to rub geologists the wrong way.

Astronomers also dis Disney by calling some stars "red dwarfs" - implying that they're rednecks or drunks, yellow dwarfs (commonly called yeller in the south) being cowards, and white and brown dwarfs being derogatory slang for albinos and dirt diggers (as opposed to the high classed rock diggers), respectively.

We have to band together to stop this madness by the astonomers! Sign a petition today!

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[eikonos]

I've got your better example right here. Take a look at the suggestion; they're obviously not taking context into consideration:

http://search.msdn.microsoft.com/search/default.as px?siteId=0&tab=0&query=WM_SETPOSITION [microsoft.com]

Re:Wow, that's an interesting take...

[rubycodez]

and we're using decimal measure of parts of a mile on our odometers. See, we're decimal. Sheesh, give some people 0.0000157828283 miles and they'll take a mile.

Re:1st Time

[rubycodez]

that's nothing, watch a slashdot reader perk up when he hears of an Unprotected Double Penetration