Is it time for the term dinosaur to be retired?

[Sim]

That's right, names don't change even if it's later discovered  they're not a good choice.  Some of these do bother me a bit, e.g. Oviraptor philoceratops, the carnivorous crocodile-like phytosaurs (phytosaur means "plant reptile" because the first fossils of phytosaurs were mistakenly thought to belong to plant eaters).  Although phytosaur does sound cool!  Spinosaurid also bothers me a bit as currently only the member of this family the name comes from (Spinosaurus) has very large spines.

Anyway, no dinosaur is a lizard or closely related to a lizard.  "Saurus" can mean lizard or reptile, I prefer reptile for dinosaurs, I'm not sure why lizard is more popular.  The current scientific consensus is dromaeosaurids and troodontids are not birds.  People are free to believe they are or say why they think they are, but I find it a bit annoying when people claim they are as a fact.  I've not heard of tyrannosauroids being considered birds before, if someone does consider them birds it sounds like they think a bird is anything with feathers!

By the way, there's a whale called Basilosaurus.

Edit: A lot of the meanings in the names are loosely used, Postosuchus (suchus means crocodile) isn't a crocodile (or even a crocodilian), same with Sarcosuchus, Desmatosuchus and many others.

[Gwangi]

The current scientific consensus is dromaeosaurids and troodontids are not birds.  People are free to believe they are or say why they think they are, but I find it a bit annoying when people claim they are as a fact.  I've not heard of tyrannosauroids being considered birds before, if someone does consider them birds it sounds like they think a bird is anything with feathers!

The old system of classification is no good anyway. The process of evolution itself shows us that you cannot categorize animals into "this" or "that" and although it may be easier to do with living species when you take into account all the extinct ones it becomes an impossible task. Where do you draw the line on what is a bird or dinosaur when so many dinosaurs are actually more closely related to birds than other dinosaurs? I'm not saying I would consider T. rex a bird, just that classification is a messy undertaking and ultimately futile.

[Sim]

I think when it's clear it's necessary, classifications will be updated.  Sometimes that can take time and more information on certain animals.  At the moment the system seems quite good to me, yeah it isn't perfect and some relationships are not well understood, but for what's currently possible I find current classifications give a good idea of the current understanding and knowledge of animals.  With dinosaurs closely related to birds which don't fall in what is currently the bird group, I think they're dinosaurs closely related to birds.

Knowing that birds are dinosaurs, to me it makes sense there will be dinosaurs closely related to birds which aren't birds.  Just like how there are synapsids that aren't mammals, despite being more closely related to mammals than to other vertabrates.

Edit: "Sauros" which is where saurus comes from means "lizard" or "reptile", but it seems in dinosaur and dinosaur names it means "lizard".  Yet in phytosaur it apparently means "reptile".  I'm not sure to what extent lizard and reptile can be interchanged as a meaning for the saurus part of names, but the "lizard" meaning doesn't bother me much as it isn't a literal meaning and it could be worse.  It always feels good knowing saurus meaning lizard in mosasaur names is completely correct though!

[alexeratops]

NO way! What are we gonna do, change the name of the forum to " The Pacificusornis Toy Forum", and have innocent 6 year-olds say to their mothers " Mommy Mommy! I wanna go see the Pacificusornis-es!" No, no we aren't. And for your information, that means 'peaceful birds'.

[SBell]

Classifications are updated--names are not (except genders, which is taxonomic minutiae).

[Gwangi]

From the wikipedia page, and it has sources. I've read similar descriptions of the definition elsewhere.

The taxon Dinosauria was formally named in 1842 by paleontologist Sir Richard Owen, who used it to refer to the "distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles" that were then being recognized in England and around the world.[9] The term is derived from the Greek words δεινός (deinos, meaning "terrible," "potent," or "fearfully great") and σαῦρος (sauros, meaning "lizard" or "reptile").[9][10] Though the taxonomic name has often been interpreted as a reference to dinosaurs' teeth, claws, and other fearsome characteristics, Owen intended it merely to evoke their size and majesty.[11]

So the name dinosaur still works.

[Dinoguy2]

A lot of sources translate saurus to lizard or reptile Because they don't want dinosaur names to be wrong. While technically it could mean both if you really twist things around, the fact is there are two distinct Greek words for the different concepts. Sauros which means lizards specifically, and herpeton which means any creeping thing in general (hence the name Herpetology for the study of reptiles and amphibians). There are prehistoric animal names that use herpeton instead of saurus, like Lagerpeton.

Saurus means lizard, herpeton means reptile, both in Greek.

Personally I don't like either, because dinosaurs are neither in terms of word meaning. They're not lizards and they're not animals that crawl in the belly which is what herpeton in Greek and reptilian in Latin mean).

I prefer the suffix that comes closes to describing what they're actually like--dracon! In fact, Ernst Heackel was the first to recognize a group of animals including dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs to the exclusion of other reptiles. He named the clade Dracones! It never gets used even though it's technically an older and better synonym for Ornithodira.

[CityRaptor]

Ironically Draco is already used for a lizard.

[laticauda]

Ok, we all know what Dinosaur breaks down into, but instead of Dinosaur, lets use what the China uses, long (Dragon).  Call them Dinolong.   

[CityRaptor]

You mean Kong Long...or let's go japanese and call them Kyoryu instead.