Canebreak vs Canebrake - experts Forum at VenomousReptiles.org

Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by Coralsnayk on April 19, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Even though the Canebrake Rattlesnake has been torn down from its subspecies status, and I've had to accept that, where I must put my foot down is where people tear down the common name, whether deliberately or not. Throughout this and other sites, I've come across the word Canebreak. No such word! The common name of the Southeastern Color Phase of the Timber Rattler is CANEBRAKE; a compound word formed from "Cane" (referring to the sugar cane plant) and "brake" (referring to a land overgrown usually with one kind of plant - namely, cane plants.) This is where the animal got it's common name. Sorry if that's a rant, but I was really at the limit of my tolerance. Kudos to others who have corrected the name in other posts! Ok, I'm off my soapbox! G

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by earthguy on April 19, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
I apologize for ant mistyping that may have occured during any of my previous posts;)

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by Cro on April 19, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Greg: You are right, Canebrake is often misspelled ! It is just so easy to do, though. I have to watch out or I will miss it half the time. It is good that Pygmy and Pigmy Rattlesnake are both correct, as are Grey and Gray Ratsnake ! (British vs American English). Maybee the webmasters should add a spell checker to the site ! Best Regards JohnZ

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by Cro on April 19, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Related to spelling, is pronunciation, which can be kind of fun. While us Southerners use Crotalus, the folks up North pronounce it Cro'-talus. And I just watched a show with Jeff Corwin, on NGC, called "Where's Jeff", where they dumped him somewhere in the US, and he had to decide where he was based on the reptiles he found. It was not bad, but he found a transpecos copperhead, and pronounced the name "Aggie-kistrodon" (perhaps a lame effort at a joke about the Texican Aggies?), but I do not expect much from someone who pronounces Oragutan as Orangatang ! I know I mess up the English language a lot, but I would expect more from National Geo. JohnZ

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by Coralsnayk on April 20, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
There are no hard feelings. And it wasn't just on here. I see it on kingsnake.com alot. I'm sorry if I got a bit heated, but Canebrakes are by far my favorite snake! It was a paternal instinct, perhaps! Best wishes, G

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by guttersnacks on April 21, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Orangutan is one that gets my goat quite often. I see high level professionals saying Orangutang quite often on TV, like it's some kind of rust colored fruit drink the astronauts used to take on their flights. Pigmys/pygmys I guess I never bothered to look into which is preferable. Canebreak is something you use to stop an old man from hitting you in the head with his walking stick. Hehehe. The Bud Light "Iguanas" bother me too. They're Chameleons. And the most common error I see is the switching of THEIR and THEY'RE, and the starting of sentences with the word AND. *(guilty)*

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by Cro on April 21, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
A couple more science words often mispronounced. First is "piranha", which folks pronounce as "peronna", but it should be "p ron ya". Second is "arctic", which folks pronounce as "ar-tic", but should be pronounced "arc-tic". JohnZ

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by timberrattlesnake89 on April 21, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
I think you might be wrong about Cane Brakes. Cane Brakes are the area that is a ditch with water in it. It can brake up the sections of cane fields. At one time canebrakes could be found there and that is how they got there name. Phillip

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by Coralsnayk on April 21, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Another one.... Jeff Corwin can't seem to get his tongue around the word "neurotoxin" (NYOO RO TOXIN), he says "NERO Toxin" like it's a spin off of the CD Ripping/Burning Program which, in turn is a spin off of the Roman Emperor Nero. So, if a snake injects you with "NERO-Toxins", do you automatically go mad and play the fiddle after you've set fire to the capital of Italy? Also, speaking of Italy, I have to cringe and/or giggle when I hear latin letters mispronounced. Such as people say "conanti" as "CO-NANT-EYE" when it's "CO NAHN TEE". I is always EE in latin, Ae is always "EYE", A is always AH, O is always "OH", V is U, pronounced "ooh" and J is I (ee). The exception I make is in the word Naja (NAH JHA) since the word is not latin, but Indian. G

RE: Canebreak vs Canebrake	Reply
by PIGMAN on April 22, 2005	Mail this to a friend!
Canebrakes are the larg vast fields of native cane similar to bamboo that usually occurs along river corridors from southeast southern piedmont and coastal VA to east TX troughout the southern coastal plain and lower piedmont regions. Do to lack of fire and hardwood overgrowth canebrakes have reduced down to a mere 2 percent of what they once were especially in NC and SC. Canebrake rattlesnakes are often found in or near these habitats. Hence the name canebrake. Today many canebrakes are found in hardwood swamp/river corridors that historically were large canebrakes that native americans would set fire to. Fl cane fields are not natural canebrakes. They are sugar cane for sugar production which inadvertantly created great kingsnake habitat when the agricultural cane fields were made. Hope this helps. Zach

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