Talk:Devonian

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[edit] "People of Devon"?

Down where I live Devonian has absolutely nothing to do with geological periods whatsoever and you would be looked at in blank disbelief if you said that what was what the word meant. I don't think I have ever seen the word (except in a purely geological or prehistorical context) stripped of a qualifier before and therefore unless I see any objections to the contrary I will move this to Devonian (geological period), and put up a stub on the not-quite-as-dead-and-defunct English neighbours, the Devonians from er Devon. user:sjc

I've only heard of the geologic period usage but I can see a possible ambiguity here. If you do move this then move it to Devonian period since that is what is called and also fix all the links that go to Devonian. IMO all the geologic periods should be named [X period]. --mav

v. cool. On my to do list. user:sjc

Now done. user:sjc

Whups, I just moved it back before seeing this discussion here. I moved it because all the other geological periods are titled without the "period" part of their name, and so I wanted to maintain consistency. Is this still an issue? I'll move it back right now just to be on the safe side. Bryan

Sounds like someone's found a project - go thru all the periods, find all the pages that link to them, and change them, then the periods in question. ~ender

'Devonian' might be a newspaper's name in Devon, but in the rest of the world it really does denote the geological period. We'd say 'people of Devon' for the Devonians, just as we'd say 'people of Kent'-- since 'Kentian' denotes the neo-Palladian style of William Kent.

I was sorry to see Gondwana changed to Gondwanaland. 'Gondwana' is preferred. Check at www.google.com for example. Could we return to Gondwana? Wetman 21:05, 30 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The link can show Gondwana under Devonian, while still referring to the original name Gondwanaland. I changed all the Gondwana links to Gondwanaland because it was easier, but perhaps I should have retained the name in the articles. The article on Gondwana now refers to the historic Gondwana. The proposal for this has been in the talk page for a week. Imc 21:16, 30 Dec 2003 (UTC)

As a general rule, 'easier' would always involve using the conventional term. A disambiguation link might disambiguate any ambiguity here, no? Or perhaps the use of 'Gondwana' in paleogeography is now considered offensive? Shall we start a List of offensive terms in paleogeography, so that we know what to avoid? What do the people of Mississippi think about the Mississippian I wonder? Wetman 07:33, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)

[edit] New dates

New dates have been entered: " (408.5 million years ago (mya)) to the beginning of the Mississippian subperiod of the Carboniferous (360 mya)" Can we get a source, whatever the mainstream current textbook says? --Wetman 23:39, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

They weren't changed, they were swapped (correctly: the larger number is the earlier date). I just changed them to correspond to the dates in Geologic timescale, which uses a current (2004) standard reference. 68.81.231.127 20:33, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That wasn't very observant on my part... thanks. --Wetman 20:47, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 :) It got reverted back so I added a much stronger cite when I improved the intro paragraphs. 68.81.231.127 17:58, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Age of Fish"

I am sorry to see this creaky antique label reintroduced. We live in the "Age of Insects", after all, not the "Age of Mammals" as the Victorians imagined. It sets the wrong tone from the very outset. --Wetman 21:59, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC).

Then add a caveat or some additional discussion. An encyclopedia shouldn't ignore a common synonym, but we can explain it. And while not particularly accurate (the "Age of Trees, Crawly Things and Fish" does have a kind of lilt), it does at least focus on one of the important changes. 68.81.231.127 00:12, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Is it still common? It certainly was when I was in grade school, back in the "Age of the Tailfin." "Age of..." gives me a vision of the murals painted by Charles R. Knight in the 1920s. Might just be my problem, but "Age of Chivalry" "Age of Reason" add little useful information. But as for "Devonian" to conjure a vision of magnificence, well, how about "Devonian reefs?" --Wetman 01:20, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Knight's earlier work was better, before everyone bought into the "slow, sluggish, and static" meme. "Age of Fish" is the most common synonym for Devonian; it's certainly more common than "Old Red Age" or "Greenhouse Age", both of which I have more problems with (they're artifacts of a sampling bias). But it's probably not common enough that it needs marquee billing. 68.81.231.127 03:17, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I moved it down to the third paragraph, and explained why some of the alternate names have become less common. It could always use a double check. (After all, I accidentally swapped the dates back when I added the reference earlier :) 68.81.231.127 00:47, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

To my way of thinking, this puts it in proper perspective. --Wetman 00:57, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)