Ambiguity
There are several related concepts that make use of similar words, and the ambiguity can create considerable confusion. The term "Bacillus" (capitalized and italicized) is also the name of a genus that, among many other genera, falls within the class Bacilli. All types of bacteria are one-celled organisms that live either alone, in chains, or in groups.
Also, "bacillus" (or the plural "bacilli") can be a generic term to describe the morphology of any rod-shaped bacterium. This general term does not mean that the subject is a member of class Bacilli or genus Bacillus. Thus, it does not necessarily imply a similar group of characteristics. Not all members of class Bacilli are rod-shaped (Staphylococcus is spherical), and many other rod-shaped bacteria that do not fall within that class (Clostridium is rod-shaped but very different taxonomically) exist. Moreover, the general term "bacillus" does not necessarily indicate the Gram-positive staining common to class Bacilli. For example, E. coli is a rod-shaped bacterium that could, therefore, be described as "a bacillus," but it stains Gram-negative and does not belong to genus Bacillus or class Bacilli. Some microbiologists have forsaken the general "bacillus" term because of the confusion it can create.
Read more about this topic: Bacilli
Famous quotes containing the word ambiguity:
“Indeed, it is that ambiguity and ambivalence which often is so puzzling in women—the quality of shifting from child to woman, the seeming helplessness one moment and the utter self-reliance the next that baffle us, that seem most difficult to understand. These are the qualities that make her a mystery, the qualities that provoked Freud to complain, “What does a woman want?””
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)
“Unlike the ambiguity of life, the ambiguity of language does reach a limit.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Legends of prediction are common throughout the whole Household of Man. Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak. Oracular ambiguity or statistical probability provides loopholes, and discrepancies are expunged by Faith.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)