The one that always makes me wonder is Scrubs for Shrubs. It happens fairly often. Do they call them scrubs in some parts? One I heard recently, Rose Companion for Rose Campion. Flora, Computer friends came over here to visit for a couple weeks. It was interesting trying to figure out things we use different words or expressions for like car boot is not used over here. We say flea market. She kept asking where the stores were, and we asked do you mean the mall? Which made no sense to her. So my husband took them to a street with lots of neat shops. She still asked where the stores were. Yes she wanted to go to the mall. Another one was eggplant. She is vegetarian. We were at a restaurant, and I pointed out the eggplant dish. She had no clue what it was and was afraid to order. Later we found out she knew it as aubergine and of course loves it, lol. It was interesting. Oh and her husband's voice! I could never tell what the heck he was saying. He sounds like a drunk John Lennon, lol. Remy

I prefer Latin binomial nomenclature because some plants do share identical common names (Hypericum/Alcea is just one example--wildflowers can be an absolute nightmare!). I also prefer Latin binomial nomenclature because at my last job my coworkers were Chinese, Korean, Bulgarian, Russian, Irish, English, Brazilian, Belgian, German, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Mexican, Indian and American. Some of us shared a love of gardening, and there is NO WAY we could have communicated easily without resorting to the Latin names for plants. (Working in the sciences is like that--you end up polyglot whether you planned it or not :-) ) As for the *latest* taxonomic assignment (Alcea/Althaea, Chrysanthemum/Leucanthemum/Whateveramum...), I don't worry about that. If I know more than one name for a given plant, I'll give all the names I know, with the one I know best followed by "syn. xxxxxx" for any others. Some plants seem to change taxa more often than I change socks, and I understand why that happens. It depends on what genetic region or regions the taxonomists have chosen for comparison. As for correct pronunciation: forget it! I like what Allan Armitage says about getting all the syllables in the correct order, and just letting fly. There is NO correct pronunciation for Latin (its native speakers all being dead for at least 1000 years), and the correct pronunciation varies from country to country and speaker to speaker. Perhaps the best example of that is "Pinus", (pine trees), which we Americans pronounce "PIE-ness". I'll leave it to those of you with salacious imaginations to think of how Germans and speakers of Slavic languages might pronounce "Pinus".... Lisa

I hope nobody thinks I get visibly upset when people call them hostas and hostases. I just try to use them correctly, repeatedly, hoping that they catch on. And if it is a regular customer I'll politely mention it at some point in time ;) One really funny incident, sorry if this is a bit unrelated, was a customer that came in and asked for Oriental bushes. I asked what kind was she looking for, she said any kind, so I showed her Japanese Kerria and Dwarf Korean Lilacs. She thought I was crazy, and said no, that wasn't what she wanted, she wanted Oriental bushes!!! I told her she was welcome to walk around and look, and maybe we had it around, but I really didn't know what she wanted. About 15 minutes later she comes back and says that she found them, and couldn't believe I didn't know what she was talking about. She took me ove, showed them to me, and after I realized what she was pointing at, I asked, rather bewildered, "Did you mean ornamental grasses?" "Yes," she says, "That's what I kept telling you: Oriental bushes!!!" We still get a chuckle out of that one LOL

I'm with you Terriks! The OP asked if I believe in God. Well, not in a Biblical God. I do not belong to a church, because I feel that too much weight is given to the writings in a book-be it the Bible, the Torah, the Quoran or any other scriptural writings. And when it's down in writing, it's taken as the law by those who follow it. But I always feel like that law needs some rules to define the intent, and those laws definitely are open to interpretation. Basically, I believe in a spiritual presence. If I were to describe my spirtual beliefs, I'd lean toward Pagan and the worship of Mother Earth. My 'God' is whatever spiritual being(s) that bring me comfort when I'm low or lost. I say a prayer to 'God' but it's not an entity-more like putting my fears, wishes, blessings out to the Universe for the psychic energies to pick up and return as needed. I can say, without a doubt that I do not believe in Jesus Christ. But I won't knock anyone who does! My eldest daughter is an atheist and it does bother me to some extent. She does not believe in an afterlife or a spiritual deity (she refers to the Flying Spaghetti Monster) but I believe with all my heart there is an afterlife. Not Heaven, however, and definitely no Hell. I was raised on the fringes of organized religion. My mother was raised Presbyterian and my fathers family was non-practicing Catholic. We were not pushed in to any particular religion, but my siblings would identify themselves as Christian if asked. I've got no problem singing Hymns or saying the Lords Prayer-to me those bring comfort and that is always good. But on the same token, singing rock songs brings me comfort. I find my soul is refreshed by Nature. Put me by the sea and I am re-energies (those negative ions!) I am utterly entranced by the Cosmos and I believe in evolution. My beliefs do have a science base-but Paganism also has a scientific bent. I won't judge a person on their religion-and I'd ask those who have a different belief than I do to not judge me. I've been told I'll burn in Hell because I don't believe in the Bible. I can't speak of other organized religions, because I live in a very Christian dominated place, so my experiences have been limited by those who've judged me and proclaim to be a Christian. On the other hand, I've known people who proclaim their devotion to Jesus Christ who are the nicest, least judgemental, if somewhat naive in their world views, people I've met.