My Webster's dictionary does note that natives of Scotland often
prefer Scottish to Scotch. One definition of scotch is frugal which
has a negative association. However, Scotch pine didn't make it into
Melvin Hunter's article about racist plant names.

"Racist Relics: An Ugly Blight On Our Botanical Nomenclature" by
Melvin Hunter:
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr1991/...in_911125.html

If the people of Scottish ancestry want to complain about a derogatory
use of the term scotch, they should talk to 3M Corporation about their
scotch tape, which was named based on the frugality definition of
scotch.


David R. Hershey


(Iris Cohen) wrote in message ...
Here's one for you. The British don't seem to care if Americans say elevator,
aluminum, railroad track, windshield, truck, alfalfa, turnip, squash, eggplant,
or even corn for Zea mays. But if you call Pinus equestris Scotch pine, the
British bonsai growers have a fit. Outside the US it is Scots pine. I have
tried to explain that it is listed that way in American dictionaries, but they
insist the dictionary is wrong (not understanding the function of a
dictionary).
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much
that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885