Talk:Common Toad

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sporn toadsporn I never heard these words. As used, they seem mean spawn or toadspawn. extensive web searching did find a few uses of the word sporn but I still wonder. is this a regular word? a regional variation? on line dictionaries (including wiktionary) and google's define function had no definitions for it. I dont want to change it myself, but perhaps the article's author would consider it.

Thanks for your careful checking. It was just a spelling error! Billlion 06:24, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I modified the sentence that implied that toadpoles are not tadpoles. The wikipedia article tadpole says: A tadpole is a larval frog, toad, salamander, or newt. This is correct. "toadpole" is cute portmanteau word, but it hasn't reached the level of an accepted word, easily found in dictionaries.

I think your edit is fine. Tadpole does serve as a generic term, however toadpole is widely term in the England, although perhaps not so much by biologists! Many small children and their parents who have dipped their jam jars in ponds to catch them for generations would make the distinction between tadpoles and toadpoles. Billlion 06:24, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Interestingly tadpole comes for the old english tadige or tadie for toad! Maybe old english pond dippers didn't make so fine a distinction.Billlion 06:29, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Fuzzy picture

My picture wasn't "fuzzy". that is actually the toads texture. Not sure if the French picture of mating toads is better, it does illustrate the size difference between male and female and the variation in colour, but it does not show the body shape and shorter legs (compared with a frog). Any views please? Billlion 07:13, 8 May 2006 (UTC)