In Richard Owen’s place I would have called them “dragons” rather than “dinosaurs”. I mean, we didn’t rename atoms once we found out they didn’t look much like Democritus or Dalton imagined them and the etymological meaning of their name doesn’t actually apply to them...
Do people ever talk about dragons and dinosaurs in the same contexts? If so you’re creating ambiguities. If not (and I’m having difficulty thinking of any such contexts) then it’s not going to create many ambiguities so it’s harder to object.
In Richard Owen’s place I would have called them “dragons” rather than “dinosaurs”. I mean, we didn’t rename atoms once we found out they didn’t look much like Democritus or Dalton imagined them and the etymological meaning of their name doesn’t actually apply to them...
Do people ever talk about dragons and dinosaurs in the same contexts? If so you’re creating ambiguities. If not (and I’m having difficulty thinking of any such contexts) then it’s not going to create many ambiguities so it’s harder to object.