>From:    Gary Skinner <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Exotic
>Here is the Defined Word "exotic" takin fron the encyclopieda...
>adj.  1. From another part of the world; foreign: exotic tropical plants
>         in a greenhouse. See note at foreign.
>      2. Intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange:
          [clipped the stripper defn]
>I think you need to read alittle more before you begin to try something
>else or someone to bash here. We all Know that Ferrets are not an
>Exoctic, and Have not been Exotic for Hundreds of Years.
 
They're sure exotic to the USA via your above definition.  Consider the
_opposite_ of exotic (native being the antonym of the primary definition and
commonplace, run-of-the-mill, and ordinary being antonyms of the secondary
definition.  Source: Random House Thesaurus, College Ed.  New York.  1984.).
In those cases, I'm PROUD to have an exotic pet.
 
Biologically, the description of 'wild exotic species' (such as the Zebra
Mussel, Purple Loostrife, etc.) to which you appear to be referring don't
lose their exotic status just because they hang around for a few hundred
years.  Granted, 'Native' is a relative term given that nature is always
evolving and at SOME point just about all species were exotic.  Native
Americans may have been the first people to settle permanently in these
regions, but humans are not native to North America.  Truthfully, trying to
describe pets as exotic in this manner is just plain silly since just about
every pet one is likely to own fits this 'exotic' description (depending on
your global location of course--pardon my Americano-centrism).
 
I'm not sure the battle of 'exotic-status' is worth the trouble.  First we'd
have to educate Americans (or at least all Californians) about what the
definition of exotic IS.  Otherwise the CaCa(tm) politicians can use it as a
double-edged sword as is presented in the following absurd dramatization:
 
CACA (to fert owners): Are ferrets exotic?
 
Owners: **HELL NO!!**
 
CACA: (reads above definition(s) which say nothing about wildness).  Are
ferrets exotic NOW??
 
Owners:  Well, I guess they are.
 
CACA:  *proclamation to the general public*  Ferrets are Exotic Animals!!
 
General Public:  Hey, we know that exotic species are bad.  Down with
ferrets!
 
Owners:  Curses! Foiled again!
 
                         -Erin...
 
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   Mr. Erin M. Ennis    |       Any sufficiently convoluted argument can
 eennis(at)zoo,uvm,edu  |       be made to appear to be science as the
 Water Resources Major, |       layman equates incomprehensibility with
     Biology Minor      |       science.                -Unknown
    Uni. of Vermont     |
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[Posted in FML issue 2321]