Recursive names.

[SteveH]

Sahara desert means Desert Desert, River Avon means River River, Breedon on the Hill means Hill Hill on the Hill, and PIN number means Personal Identification Number Number. Just thought I'd mention that.

[Robbie]

I hope you feel better after that StevenH  .

What about ATM machine? That's something I hear occasionally.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Does Andy Williams sing ''cant take my eyes off off you.....?''

[Robbie]

No he doesn't (or didn't), one 'off' only, other people who sing that song add the extra unfortunately.

Looks as though Frankie Valli only uses one 'off' too, he wrote the song; he's gone up in my estimation:-
Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - Frankie Valli
You're just too good to be true
I can't take my eyes off you....

[bluehillside Retd.]

"Four a.m. in the morning"

Sally Oldfield, "Moonlight Shadow"

[bluehillside Retd.]

Bufo bufo is "toad toad".

[Gordon]

A musical contribution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Y0NX4vc4I

[Rhiannon]

Bufo bufo is "toad toad".

The wren is troglodytes troglodytes which seems to mean ‘prehistoric cave dweller prehistoric cave dweller’. And not much at all to do with being a small bird.

[ad_orientem]

I hope you feel better after that StevenH  .

What about ATM machine? That's something I hear occasionally.

Disgusting!

[wigginhall]

I think you get triplets sometimes, because of sub-species.   Hence, the mainland wren is technically troglodytes troglodytes troglodytes, to distinguish it from other sub-species, such as the St Kilda wren, which is t. t. hirtensis.  Enki, please confirm!

But there are others, e.g. gorilla gorilla gorilla.

[Enki]

I think you get triplets sometimes, because of sub-species.   Hence, the mainland wren is technically troglodytes troglodytes troglodytes, to distinguish it from other sub-species, such as the St Kilda wren, which is t. t. hirtensis.  Enki, please confirm!

But there are others, e.g. gorilla gorilla gorilla.

I think you are right Wiggs. Incidentally, the word troglodytes was supposed to be used because the wren was a bird which would disappear into small crevices in rocks, I think. Another interesting one is puffinus puffinus, which doesn't refer to the Atlantic puffin at all, but the manx shearwater!

[wigginhall]

Also, homo sapiens sapiens.   

[ippy]

Also, homo sapiens sapiens.

How about that often used prelude to an opinion of one sort or another, 'I myself personally', I I I.

Regards ippy.

[Maeght]

PAT testing

[Stranger]

Saw the title and thought it would be about recursion in the mathematical or computational sense. A recursive name would be like the GNU operating system, where GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix" - now that's recursion.

If you type recursion into google, the spell checker asks you: "Did you mean: recursion".

[SteveH]

I think the repetitions in Linnaean binomials indicate that the species in question is considered the oldest or most typical species of the genus (or sub-species of the species, as in Homo sapiens sapiens).

[wigginhall]

I think the repetitions in Linnaean binomials indicate that the species in question is considered the oldest or most typical species of the genus (or sub-species of the species, as in Homo sapiens sapiens).

Yes, I'm not sure of the connection with the so-called 'type specimen', which is often held as a physical specimen in a museum.  Also called the holotype, I think.   But certainly, the trinomial names the genus, species and sub-species.

You can have lots of fun with dandelions, which in some systems, have a 100 species, but I don't think botany uses doublets and triplets.

[Enki]

I think the repetitions in Linnaean binomials indicate that the species in question is considered the oldest or most typical species of the genus (or sub-species of the species, as in Homo sapiens sapiens).

Yes, the flava wagtails are a good case in point. The nominate sub species(or race) is motacilla flava flava(blue headed wagtail) found in most of western Europe, but there are many distinct sub species of the genus, some of which might well, in future years, be classed as species. E.g. the black headed wagtail.

In the birding world, this is called 'lumping and splitting'. Lumping means that some species(usually on the basis of their DNA) are to be regarded as simply races of the same species, whereas the idea of splitting is to separate former races into full species. Birders, of course, prefer splitting.

[Dicky Underpants]

Also, homo sapiens sapiens.

I suppose that's to distinguish between H S Neanderthalis and HS Hobbitensis (or whatever they call them)

[Dicky Underpants]

Does Andy Williams sing ''cant take my eyes off off you.....?''

The Beatles certainly sang "this crazy world in which we live in".

[Nearly Sane]

TLA

[SteveH]

Yes, I'm not sure of the connection with the so-called 'type specimen', which is often held as a physical specimen in a museum.  Also called the holotype, I think.   But certainly, the trinomial names the genus, species and sub-species.

You can have lots of fun with dandelions, which in some systems, have a 100 species, but I don't think botany uses doublets and triplets.

I read somewhere that dandelions are a taxonomist's nightmare, provoking huge arguments between the lumpers and the splitters about which are distinct species, and which are mere variants within a single species. Ditto Rosa canina, a whole bunch of closely related wild roses.

[SteveH]

The Beatles certainly sang "this crazy world in which we live in".

Wings, I think, and I think Sir Macca claims that it's actually "...in which we're living", but it does sound like "...in which we live in".

[SusanDoris]

Heard on  Radio Five Live yesterday: also, as well

[jeremyp]

Sahara desert means Desert Desert, River Avon means River River, Breedon on the Hill means Hill Hill on the Hill, and PIN number means Personal Identification Number Number. Just thought I'd mention that.

These are tautological names rather than recursive names. One part of the name is a redundant tautology.