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Science Memes @mander.xyz

fossilesque @mander.xyz

4mo ago

Halloween Botany

76 comments

- I appreciate the skittles reference
  
  Is it a skittles reference or is it a reference to purple not being an actual color and thus not a part of the rainbow?
- Seeing the creator write "actually," instead of "oh yeah?" somehow feels wrong.

That's because the scientific definition of berries has little in common with the colloquial one. That doesn't make either wrong, they are just used in different contexts
- We really should rename botanical berries to something else.
  
  The thing is, there is for sure some Latin technical term that you can use. And it's still close enough to berries to call them that.
- Botanical vs culinary.

This feels like a case where botanical science should just have picked a different name. If you invalidate everything people think of as a berry and then tell them a dozen things that are clearly not berries are, in fact, berries, you're just making the word berry meaningless.
Berry means a tiny, usually sweet, fruit-like growth from a plant. The kind that is usually picked in bunches. The kind that you use to make smoothies. That's a berry.
Botany did us all a disservice by choosing the word "berry" to mean "a specific thing which invalidates everything you think is a berry." Just call that plant structure something in Latin, ffs.
- Well, cooking terms and botany terms are not the same. Any non reproductive part of a plant is vegetable. But in cooking we have a completely different idea of what vegetables are.
  This really doesn't matter because most people are not botanists and those who are probably know the terms. The only people that care are quirky internet people with debates about weather or not potato salad should be considered a cake or something.
  
  "Weather" is a nice ultimate touch
- They did. It's Baca. Which means berry. Or maybe cow. Naming stuff is hard
  
  Naming would be easier if we collectively review the names every few years and retire the BS.
- Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
  
  Knowledge is knowing the common definition of fruit doesn't include tomato.

Sometimes you feel like a peanut is not a nut!
Sometimes you don't!
- I've willfully disregarded botanical terminology every since I learned it.
  Bad practice, picking generic terms to define differently.

A berry is a watery, often sweet fruit under 4cm
- That is the colloquial definition. The scientific definition of a berry differs a bit.
  
  Yeah, well scientists just like making things more complicated so they can feel important
  If it's a small fruit you can pop in your mouth without a stone, it's a berry
- Behold - a berty https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_tomato
  
  They said often sweet, not...
  I can't think of something disgusting to properly describe how much I hate cherry tomatoes.

but what about boo-berry?
- Ah! A person of rare and refined taste!

Scary-berry
- Berry Wight

wait until you hear about vegetables
- Just happened last week.
  Me: "I don't even want to get started about vegetables. We'll go into it for hours."
  Them: "Wait what?"
  (Proceeds to go into a long conversation for hours)

Pumpkin pie also rarely is made with pumpkin, it's usually squash
- Pumpkin pie is always made with squash. Occasionally, those squash are pumpkins
- Pumpkin is a squash
- Having made pumpkin pies for decades, this is true. Pumpkin is a squash.
- Pumpkin pie is gross. Apple is the superior turkey-day pie.

What?

TIL, wow. I mean, to be fair, "berry" is in the damn name, so I never questioned it.
- These are lies! This is pumpkin propaganda, spread by the spirit of Halloween.

76 comments