Yeah, I took "human" to be the common name of the species, not the genus. Especially I don't know any other common English name for Homo sapiens. In the few cases where the difference matters, it seems to be useful to say things like "Humans and Neanderthals" to name two different hominid species.
Wikipedia seems to contradict itself. Human says that it means a member of Homo sapiens. Archaic Homo sapiens and Homo (genus) carefully do not use the word "human" for any species or subspecies besides modern Homo sapiens sapiens.
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Date: 2009-05-21 12:05 am (UTC)Wikipedia seems to contradict itself. Human says that it means a member of Homo sapiens. Archaic Homo sapiens and Homo (genus) carefully do not use the word "human" for any species or subspecies besides modern Homo sapiens sapiens.