Dinosaur etymology 20 questions

[sarkat]

As Aidan and I were getting ready for bed last night:

Me: "Mew! I'm a tiny, cute pachycephalosaurus!"[1]
*Pause*
Me: "I'm not sure what that is, but I'm a tiny cute one."[2]
Aidan (never one to just give you the fish): "Can you figure it out?"
Me: "... No."
Me: "I can tell it has a headMe: "I assume you mean 'Can I figure it out from the roots'.

Comments

[hyperchinchilla]

I know what it is! I'm a closeted dinosaur nerd from way back (like kindergarten). I spent a good chunk of my elementary school years telling people why there was no such thing as a brontosaurs.

[cuteocelot]

Sometimes I'm a tiny cute pangolin, too.

[animate_mush]

I love pachycephalosaurs. They're pretty much my favorite clade of dinosaurs. I have a Wacky Fan Theory that Minbari are evolved from them :P

There were totally tiny cute little pachycephalosaurs back in the day too.

Natural History of Dinosaurs with Hilde Schmidt. Best. Class. Ever.

(I think you make a very wise point about just because you know what it means, you don't necessarily know what it is. Morphology: not to be trifled with.)

[chironsoldier]

This was cute and fun and educational for me to read. When I saw pachycephalosaur I thought "elephant-head-dinosaur" hehe. I forgot what pachy referred to besides/deeper than elephant. Then when I read further and saw that it meant thick headed lizard I thought of those thick/spiky headed ramming dinos from Land Before Time, which happen to be pachycephalosaurs! AKA Dome heads!

http://landbeforetime.wikia.com/wiki/Pachycephalosaurus