HOW DO WE CLASSIFY PIKACHU IN REAL BIOLOGICAL WORLD? I have been watching Pokémon TV series since I was a kid. And now I fall in love with Pokémon again, but this time, it’s a game called Pokémon Go.

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Shinichi

HOW DO WE CLASSIFY PIKACHU IN REAL BIOLOGICAL WORLD? I have been watching Pokémon TV series since I was a kid. And now I fall in love with Pokémon again, but this time, it’s a game called Pokémon Go. Pikachu is one of my favorite Pokémon of all time. He looks adorable and his abilities to generate electricity and paralyze enemies by thunderbolt strikes are amazing! For a long time, I had dreamed of catching him in real world. And now thanks to Niantic, Inc. to bring him to life in the virtual reality game. I love him not because of his cute looking and special power, but his relationship with others. He can read others’ feelings and express his own feeling. He’s seen as a leader who helps resolve conflicts among other Pokémons. In some cases, he sacrifices his life to save his friends’ lives, in other words, he has a basic human instinct to help each other’s out. Now it comes to an interesting question: How can we classify him in the real biological world? Pikachu shares many traits with other primates, for instance, he walks bipedally and has forward facing eyes; indeed, he has ability to grasp things using his hands known as prehensile hands. I know it sounds like Anthropology, but actually it does. If I’m an Anthropologist, I will put him in a group of nonhuman primates because he has the human mind and shares characteristics with other primates. I also give him a lovely scientific name of Arcanus electricus because of his special abilities (Arcanus is a Latin word for secret and electricus refers to electricity).

Corrections · 2

HOW DO WE CLASSIFY PIKACHU IN [THE] REAL BIOLOGICAL WORLD?

I have been watching [the] Pokémon TV series since I was a kid. And now I [have fallen] in love with Pokémon again, but this time it’s [within] a game called Pokémon Go.

Pikachu is one of my favorite Pokémon of all time. He looks adorable and his abilities to generate electricity and paralyze enemies [with] thunderbolt strikes are amazing! For a long time, I [dreamed] of catching him in real world.

[Now] thanks to Niantic, Inc., [Pikachu has been brought] to life in [a] virtual reality game. I love him not [only] because of his cute [looks] and special [powers], but [because of] his [relationships] with others. He can read others’ feelings and express his own [feelings]. He’s seen as a leader who helps resolve conflicts among other [Pokémon]. In some cases, he sacrifices his life to save his friends’ lives — in other words, he has a basic human instinct to help [others]. Now [comes] an interesting question: How can we classify him in the real biological world?

Pikachu shares many traits with [primates. For] instance, he walks bipedally and has [forward-facing] eyes; indeed, he has [prehensile (grasping) hands]. I know it sounds like [anthropomorphism], but [he actually] does. If [I were] an [anthropologist], I [would] put him in a group [with] nonhuman primates because he has [a] human mind and shares characteristics with other primates. I [would] also give him [the] lovely scientific name of [Arcanum electricum] because of his special abilities ([Arcanum] is a Latin word for secret and [electricum] refers to electricity).

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This was pretty good!

I put all my corrections [inside square brackets]. Some changes are about spelling or grammar, and others are about what sounds the most natural. Explaining them all would take a very long time.

Pokémon or Pokémons?

I don't like "Pokémons" as a plural form, even though many people use it (incorrectly). The reason is that Pokémon is a loanword from Japanese — natively, the singular and plural forms are the same.

For very old or borrowed names of animals, English usually follows the original language for plurals. Examples are:

One elk, many elk

One fish, many fish ("fishes" is OK but not preferred)

One deer, many deer

One grouse, many grouse

One moose, many moose (not "mooses", *never* "meese")

Pikachu's latin name

My Latin skills are not the greatest, but I do know that "arcanum" is neuter in gender and takes -um as its ending in the nominative case.

If I had to make up a scientific name for Pikachu following the genus/species format of Carl Linnaeus, I'd go with "Arcanoelectricum flavens" = Mysteriously electrical golden-yellow thing. :-)

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