It would clarify headlines like this if there was a different name for Earth's moon. Thoughts like "I thought its name was Lunkhod or something, not Mars" filled my head until reading this was a mission to Phobos.
The only problem is one of ambiguity. So long as each language has their own convention to resolve that ambiguity, there's no problem.
Not all languages use the same names for stuff, after all. Abroad, the USA may be called les États-Unis d'Amérique, アメリカ, or a great many other things. And we use our own names for other countries that they don't use for themselves.
Mostly because we'd had the words "Earth" and "Planet" for a helluva long time before we realised that the Earth was a planet.
The sense of "Earth" which came first was the sense of "soil", so our planet is really just called "Soil". It's interesting to think about the process by which our ancestors figured out that "earth" wasn't just the substance underneath their feet, it was also a place.
Comments
It would clarify headlines like this if there was a different name for Earth's moon. Thoughts like "I thought its name was Lunkhod or something, not Mars" filled my head until reading this was a mission to Phobos.
> It would clarify headlines like this if there was a different name for Earth's moon.
What about Luna?
That's just "moon" in another language. If you rename Earth's moon you're just shifting the problem into the Romance languages.
The only problem is one of ambiguity. So long as each language has their own convention to resolve that ambiguity, there's no problem.
Not all languages use the same names for stuff, after all. Abroad, the USA may be called les États-Unis d'Amérique, アメリカ, or a great many other things. And we use our own names for other countries that they don't use for themselves.
I'd prefer if headlines weren't capitalised. The Moon is pretty unique, it's Earth's moon.
But then why do you call it "Earth" instead of "Planet"?
Mostly because we'd had the words "Earth" and "Planet" for a helluva long time before we realised that the Earth was a planet.
The sense of "Earth" which came first was the sense of "soil", so our planet is really just called "Soil". It's interesting to think about the process by which our ancestors figured out that "earth" wasn't just the substance underneath their feet, it was also a place.
I often wonder if we'll ever get to call Earth "Terra" like they do TV. ;)
Terra was something the golden age SF writers settled on. It's from the same source (Latin) as the names of the planets and Sol.
Terra is to Earth as Sol is to Sun.
I actually call it Terra. And Sol. And Lua. But that's because I'm Portuguese. :)