Dickinson et al. (2017) take us to task for misguided interpretation of Art. 31.2.2 of the International code of zoological nomenclature (ICZN 1999), hereafter the Code, and for overreach in arguing that ‘gender agreement for species-group names is the single biggest cause of nomenclatural instability in zoology’ (Schodde & Bock 2016). Conflation is the argument of false analogy; and here we explain how Dickinson et al. (2017) use it to mistake our meaning of Art. 31.2.2, misjudge the noun / adjective status of Tanagra bresilia Linnaeus, and misrepresent the impact of gender agreement on species names. As a consequence, we offer suggestions to resolve those ambiguities in Art. 31.2.2 that open it to conflicting interpretation.