"Spencer's warbler" and quantum electrodynamics.

Heard a great quote from the late, great physicist Richard P Feynman today. He was talking about an incident from his childhood, where he was out with his father:

‘See that bird?’ he says. ‘It’s a Spencer’s warbler. (I knew he didn’t  know  the real name.) ‘Well, in Italian, it’s  a  Chutto Lapittida. In Portuguese, it’s a Bom da Peida. In Chinese  it’s a Chung-long-tah, and in Japanese it’s a Katano Takeda. You  can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when  you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely  nothing  whatever about  the  bird.  You’ll only know  about  humans  in  different places,  and what they call the bird. So let’s look at the  bird and see what it’s doing – that’s what counts!

Feynman went on to win a Nobel prize for his theory of Quantum Electrodynamics, which has the satisfying acronym (contraction?) of QED. He was also involved with the development of the first atomic bombs as well as the commission into the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

Variation of quote heard today via ABC Radio National Podcast of an In Conversation episode. The above text, which is a variation of the same theme, was found at another web site. Apparently he used this example a number of times.