Hi Tweets,

Regarding the OLD SQUAW a.k.a. LONG TAILED DUCK. Mike Patterson sent me
this. Makes sense to me. But I would like to add another possible name for
the now ever so politically incorrect duck.
(Poor duck!)

OLD SQUAWK.

I listened to a sound byte of its call. It sounds like a rather pathetic,
creaky squawk to me.

And since my first association to the name "Long Tailed Duck" was Northern
Pintail, the new PC name should be a bit more descriptive. Adding a "k" to
the end of "squaw", changes the name to something PC, but keeps it close to
the ever so offensive, but historical name. That way the confusion should
be abated a bit.

Lydia In Kent, WA
lgaebe at msn.com
Lydia Gaebe

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Oldsquaw, Long-tailed Duck or what?
The USGS is currently renaming all place names identified as "insensitive"
among these is "squaw." The Biological Survey is now under the direction of
the USGS and will probably begin using Long-tailed Duck in all future
publications.

This effectively forces the AOU to act, under the banner of uniform English
language usage. They will probably also move for the change to Long-tailed
Duck.

Here's the problem:

Oldsquaw is not the only "long-tailed" duck. This makes the name inaccurate.
Most common identifiers for Oldsquaw refer in some way to the noise this
species produces (many of them associating the call to elderly women of
varying ethnic persuasions with disagreeable personalities). If we assume
that the name change will come, whether we agree with the motives or not, it
is appropriate to seek more interesting and representative names for
Oldsquaw.

It might seem logical to select a name from the many Native American
identifiers. Most of these onomatopoetic. The problem...well, they're not
English and the AOU would be looking for uniform English language usage.
Native American names include: caccawee (with several spelling variants),
coween, ha-ha-way and kla-how-yah. Son-son-sally, jay-eye-see and jack-owly
are also onomatopoetic, but probably not Native American. Native American
names would have the advantage of priority, the rule of thumb in naming that
requires that the first name to come into use gets chosen.

An alternate name that has stricken the fancy of many of us is Callithumpian
Duck. It is English. It also refers to the call. A callithump is, according
to the New Webster's International Dictionary, is a raucous and noisy
parade. A callithumpian band, according to The Geese, Ducks and Swans of
North America (Kortright, 1943) is "(an) improvised band of uncertain
musical ability." This would certainly be a more original, poetic and
descriptive name.

Two interesting names that leave one wondering about their etymologies are
Hell's Chicken (probably another reference to the scolding nature of the
call) and Uncle Dick (I have no theories on this name). One respondent to
the discussion felt Uncle Dick might be a suitable turnabout from the
suggested sexism of Oldsquaw.

The opinion was split fairly evenly between leaving the name Oldsquaw alone
(a wish I would share, but I think it's out of our hands), Long-tailed Duck
(boring but everyone knows it), and Callithumpian Duck (my choice, if the
name must be changed) in the survey conducted on Oregon Birders On-line
conducted in 1997.








Lydia In Kent, WA
Lydia Gaebe
lgaebe at msn.com

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