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I find the article pleasant in its writting and humour. For me this goes to show that thin clickbait articles can be interesting, it's just that most people who
by dmos62 7y ago
I find the article pleasant in its writting and humour. For me this goes to show that thin clickbait articles can be interesting, it's just that most people who can write don't usually do clickbait. Excerpt:
> The technical definition of a berry is "a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary." If you're not too familiar with botany, this definition probably isn't helpful at all. But once you learn that oranges and tomatoes fit that definition to a T and could therefore be considered berries, you may start to question reality.
> Go a step further and find out that strawberries — yes, those delicious red fruits with "berries" literally in the name — aren't officially berries either. They're "accessory fruits," meaning the flesh that surrounds the seed doesn't actually come from the plant's ovaries but from the ovaries' receptacle. Didn't think we'd be talking so much about ovaries in this article, did you? By the way, raspberries aren't really berries either. I'll let you take a minute to collect yourself.
- mikorym 7y agoAnd of course the technical definition supersedes the use of the word "berry" in the English language...
- Koshkin 7y agoForget about English - > you may start to question reality
- darkwater 7y agoIn botanic this may only apply to Latin, and even in this case it would be stretched IMO. But taking English as the only reference point is a bit imperialistic to say the least.
- edflsafoiewq 7y agoI'm curious how the botanical definition came about. I believe "berry" comes from a word that means "grape" (which are berries in the botanical sense). In Middle English, everything that wasn't a berry was an "apple". A banana was an appel of paradis, apple of paradise.
- yesbabyyes 7y agoThis still lives on; in Swedish for instance, orange is apelsin, which comes from "apple from China". Pomegranate comes from "pomme", French for apple, and "granatum" meaning it has many seeds (grenade actually comes from the fruit, because it looks like one). Potatoes are "pommes du terre" in French, meaning "earth apples", and French fries are "pommes frites", fried apples. Or just freedom fries.
- Digit-Al 7y agoThe problem is that the people who name things don't always have enough knowledge to name them properly. And once a name has stuck, even if it's technically incorrect, it ain't gonna change.
- stan_rogers 7y agoAnd sometimes the technical crowd gets a little bit carried away when they narrow definitions. For instance, although its name was the very origin of the term, Stonehenge no longer qualifies as a henge.
- throwaway_tech 7y ago>yes, those delicious red fruits with "berries" literally in the name — aren't officially berries either. Similar to peanuts not being nuts, but in fact legumes.
- jrhurst 7y agoStrange. I've often see people with peanut allergies have alligeries to nuts like Almonds but not to Legumes like Chickpeas or Lentils.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y agoOur minds like to categorize things, but nature doesn't really give a shit about stuffing things into convenient cubby holes.
- losvedir 7y agoMy wife is allergic to peanuts, lentils, chick peas, etc, but not almonds and the like.
- throwaway_tech 7y agoAs one commented mentioned these "nut allergies" can be psychosomatic, where the mind is literally triggering the physical reactions based purely on expectation. On the other hand "nuts" including peanuts are typically processed in the same facilities, so cross-contamination is real too.
- tapland 7y agoWhere I am I've never heard of 'nut allergies' including peanuts, but people with allergies to peanuts (and other legumes) specifying peanut allergy.