[meteorite-list] Pluto May Get Demoted After All

[Darren Garrison]

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:37:34 -0700, you wrote:

>history community. These are people who know the issues, who know the science 
>(the words and concepts are far from arbitrary), 

I realized something tonight that I knew but for some reason, it hadn't stuck me
before: the word "pluton" already has a use in science.  It is a "Body of magma
which has solidified beneath the earth".  I've been on a few of them, and can
even see one from my house when I find the right gap between the trees (this
one: http://www.shutterfreaks.com/gallery/album152/DSC_4055, photo not mine).

So it makes me wonder-- does one field of science try to avoid reusing a term
with an established specific meaning in another field of science (and would some
far future geologist be looking for plutons on Plutons?)