Oaks for Dummies

Oak leaf and acorn

No matter how much complaining we hear about so-called "scientific jargon," we here at the Antisocial Network remain resolutely committed to accuracy in word choice when it comes to technical speech, oral or written. You may well understand what your significant other means by "doohickey" or  "thingamabob," but when a stranger is asking for a scientific answer it behooves you to be more circumspect in your word choice. It works both ways: take, for example. the schmuck who asked eHow, "How Many Types of Oak Trees Are There?" We think freelancer Rachelle Dragani could have given a far more definitive answer than the one she submitted to Sciencing.com.

Dragani, whose Sciencing bio claims she writes science articles for sites like Gizmodo (her Hunker.com bio instead claims "extensive experience covering the lifestyle space") had been tasked with rewriting a post originally submitted by eHowian John Lindell in 2010. Lindell's version was rather short, and divided oaks into red and white groups with a couple of "types" in each. Dragani's version would have it that,

"Including hybridized oak trees, there are about 600 different types of oak varieties around the world, including about 90 that are native to the United States."

Well, that's what Wikipedia says, anyway – except that the online encyclopedia doesn't say "types," it says "species." That's the problem with using an ambiguous term like "type" in this context: it allows another non-biologist to decide that the OQ wanted a count of species. That's not the most likely scenario.

We feel that, instead of plastering her post with long discussions of famous oak trees, Dragani would have been a better steward of the information by explaining that her count of 600 is the number of named species, but that botanists also divide the oaks formally into two genera (Quercus in Europe and North America, and Cyclobalanopsis of eastern Asia), and less formally into five sections. Those sections include the white oaks, canyon live oaks, red oaks, and turkey oak. Even more informally, oaks are sometimes divided into deciduous and evergreen (live) oaks.
In other words, there is more than one way to interpret "types of oaks," and Dragani's choice to wax poetic about the Angel Oak, the Crouch Oak, and just sitting in the shade of one of these majestic trees avoids answering the question. Rachel's reward? Another Dumbass of the Day citation.

copyright © 2019-2022 scmrak

SI - BOTANY