Spyke
sh.itjust.works

This is just because English sucks, or English speaking people suck at naming things. Let me show you how it's done:

In Dutch:

Horseshoe crabs are called "dagger crabs", and look what it's dragging behind.

Cuttlefish are called "ink fish", and tadaa.

Jellyfish are "kwallen", which means roughly "annoying person", and they're pretty annoying.

Bald eagles are "American Eagles", you're welcome.

A sand dollar is called a "sea coin", because of where it lives and what it resembles, which is way more accurate.

And a fly is still a fly.

72
Blubtonreply
feddit.nl

In Dutch, the Common Drone Fly is also called "Blinde Bij", which means "Blind Bee". This is because this animal is neither blind nor a bee and the Dutch are very good at naming things

53
sh.itjust.works

Animals who do not live up to thier names Dutch edition.

Dagger Crabs - Don't have daggers and not crabs.

Ink Fish - Not actually fish.

Kwallen- Not actually a person.

American Eagles - Found all over Canada and upper Mexico.

Sea Coins - Can't actually be used as coins.

41
accideathreply
lemmy.world

Canada and Mexico are still America so I‘d say it does live up to its name

29
sh.itjust.works

Nobody refers to Canada or Mexico as America. North America is not America and American is exclusively used to refer to the US.

-12

Well apparently not exclusively so, at least outside of the US, because the American Eagle is not just US-American.

13

Not exclusively, no. It usually means the US, but it's far from exclusive. Especially when it comes to species names, the assumption is absurd.

10

Funny how Canadians don't want to be called "American", Mexicans don't want to be called "American", but everyone from outside the area INSISTS that it's an appropriate name for them. Even the commenter above called you a "US person", the only other time I've seen that was in legislation about immigration, never as a demonym.

2

American doesn't refer to North America in naming animals or its people. No one from Canada or Mexico call themselves American.

-4

We’re more of an autonomous collective!

I like the philosophical implications of the word king in the context of king snakes. For snakes, it just means that their diet consists primarily of other snakes. This implies that to be a king is to be a predator who preys on his own subjects.

15
lemmy.world

Animals that live up to their acronym:

  • Goat

Change my mind

56
Siethronreply
lemmy.world

It's probably a typo but 'backronym' is a great word and concept. Backwards acronym.

10

Pretty sure that’s a man bat bat. A bat bat bat would use a bat bat, like this one:

2
lemmy.ml

In my town there's a shop that sells rocks and crystals etc. They also sell sand dollars for $1. That's right, there's a 1:1 conversion rate between sand dollars and USD.

31
xantoxisreply
lemmy.world

They probably never change that price either, so it's actually pinned to the dollar.

12
Cihtareply
lemmy.world

Interesting. In south FL you can (or could, been a while) hit certain places and find the keyhole variant by the hundreds. Fascinating creature, all those tube feet to move. It's illegal to take them but that didn't stop shops from selling the ones that "washed up" which doesn't really happen.

But for some reason people actually buy them. It's a skeleton of a creature someone scooped up and let bake in the sun for a month. Kinda creepy!

4
Cihtareply
lemmy.world

It's quite possible, just not my experience. I've seen a lot of really neat shells and stuff wash up but not sand dollars. So i don't want to suggest people actually do that. But it's certainly easy enough. Probably why it's illegal.

I do suggest, if you get the chance, to check them out live. As i kid i had a few skeletons but seeing them in action was way cooler. It's not super exciting or anything, just kinda neat. Same as another one on that list - the horseshoe crab. I helped one get out of a shallow and it seemed appreciative.. at least as much as an ancient creature can be.

Stingrays are kinda dicks though so keep that in mind.

2

They probably do wash up sometimes, just not often enough to support the tourist trade.

4

But can you buy stuff with sand dollars? Checkmate atheists!

3

I once attended a traditional Chinese wedding and it's customary to serve sea cucumber soup as one of the dishes. Tales say it strengthens your fertility. Let me tell you, that shit is inedible. Soup is a euphemism, it's closer to a brine that has some penis-shaped object with gristle-like texture floating around.

It was probably the most expensive dish of the evening, but it was the only one I didn't finish.

3

Animal that does not live up to its name:

cuttlefish - is not a fish

Animal that does live up to its name:

woodpecker

24
Citheroniareply
lemmy.world

actually, all or nearly all peacocks have cocks. the ones that don't are peahens.

28
aussie.zone

I was under the impression that male birds do not possess a protruding organ but indeed have a hole too, hence ‘no cock’.

14
Citheroniareply
lemmy.world

didn't think i would be googling "peacock genitalia" today. anyway, you are right. i was confused because I know that ducks have penises, but as I just found out, ducks are actually an exception in the bird world. most birds just kind of rub their holes together. this is sometimes called "cloacal kiss", which is really funny.

25
Taleyareply
aussie.zone

Peacocks actually have no penis whatsoever. Be glad. You give a bird a penis and they get really into rape

21

i wish i didn't have to see it honestly. i saw duck rape too many times and it's horrible every time.

9
Maultaschereply
feddit.de

That's interesting. I only knew about ducks and assumed peacocks would be similar.

5
sh.itjust.works

Animal that does not live up to its name:

Red Panda. Not Red, not a panda

Animal that lives up to its name:

Sloth

19

Red Panda. Not Red, not a panda

But pretty fucking amazing with that kicking bowls onto her head while riding a unicycle thing - while listening to the world's most annoying song ever.

1
Davereply
lemmy.nz

Peacocks have cocks. Peahens do not.

Peacocks don't have a pecker in their privates. Instead of a johnson, they have a cloaca. No willie.

8
Davereply
lemmy.nz

Can you back that up? I've spent the last 10 minutes searching up cloaca diagrams and pictures and articles and I can't find any decent information about it. Only saying that they do a cloaca kiss and transfer sperm, but then I can't find a cloaca diagram that labels any part as a penis.

2

I couldn't find anything specific to peacocks either, but plenty of various other birds, including chickens which have the smallest little nub of a penis to ducks and their long, twisty corkscrew cock.

4

Yeah, I'm not sure you could call whatever a chicken does "penetrative", and I feel like the term "penis" has a specific meaning that wouldn't include cloaca.

3

cock (n.1) "male of the domestic fowl," from Old English cocc "male bird," Old French coc (12c., Modern French coq), Old Norse kokkr, all of echoic origin. Compare Albanian kokosh "cock," Greek kikkos, Sanskrit kukkuta, Malay kukuk.

cock (n.3)

"penis," 1610s, but certainly older and suggested in word-play from at least 15c.; also compare pillicock "penis," attested from early 14c.

They're called peacocks because they're peafowl who are cocks. It's a way older term than the slang usage.

5
sh.itjust.works

AWAIL (A while ago I learned) that butterflies are named that because they like to drink the fatty cream that form atop of fresh milk that's used to make butter.

This also goes for german. The Schmetter in Schmetterling has ethymological connections to Schmalz

15

They don't like the fat, it was just a folk tale that they do. They were thought to steal the butter for some reason.

An older, still regionally used German name for the butterfly reflects that: Molkendieb.

3
feddit.nl

Bird that does not live up to its name: tit.

Estonian edition (I'm not a native speaker): viinamäetigu. Not related to any alcohol (viin), does not live on mountains (mäe), mostly found outside of vineyards (viinamäe). At least it is a snail (tigu).

14

Same name in German: Wein (wine) + Berg (mountain) = Weinberg (vinyard); Schnecke (snail) -> Weinbergschnecke.

4

Hermit crab - I would not expect hermits to spend so much time and effort on acquiring bigger houses.

12

Im 99.9% certain that whomever named the ping pong tree sponge was high, drunk or both at the moment of inspiration 😄

The sunfish checks out, though, since it likes sunbathing.

12
mercreply
sh.itjust.works

With that logic, the common barn owl should be called the bald barn owl. The grey-crowned crane should be the bald grey-crowned crane. The harpy eagle should be the bald harpy eagle. Also, the great white shark should be the bald great white shark, mosquitos should be bald mosquitos, and amoebas should be called bald amoebas.

3
jmerreply
ttrpg.network

I wonder if you don't know that "/s” denotes the end of a sarcastic comment. Maybe you didn't see it. Or perhaps you regularly deal with people who hold this belief in earnest.

1
lemm.ee

What about a roadrunner? They do occasionally run on roads in real life, so they do live up to their name.

11

Ohh yeah that's fair, In my head they're dishonest about themselves because they're unlike the cartoon. my child self must've been very offended by that if I still feel that that way. can't say that i really remember though...

2
lemmy.world

That really is why I picked my username. I think the idea of a squid leaping out of the water on a jet and then actually soaring and steering through the air is just about the coolest thing I can imagine.

7

They has achieve what other animals dont, gliding through 2 different media.

4

I agree that horseshoe crabs are sorta misnamed, but: horseshoe crabs have like six fucking different kinds of eyes. Even that tail thingie is like one big eye. You try crawling around in the fucking mud and surviving for 400 million years - these beautiful bastards have no problem with it.

6

#Transcription:

erinsintra #animals that do not live up to their names

  • horseshoe crab (not a horseshoe; not a crab)
  • peacock (has no cock)
  • sand dollar (not made of sand, actually costs 13 dollars)
  • butterfly (does not contain butter)
  • jellyfish (not a fish)
  • cuttlefish (see above)
  • vampire squid (nota vampire)
  • bearded dragon (beardless)
  • bald eagle (is not bald)
  • sunfish (will not kill you within minutes due to intense heat if you approach it)
  • ping pong tree sponge (cannot play ping pong)
  • praying mantis (atheist)

#animals that live up to their names

  • fly
4
EmoDuckreply
sh.itjust.works

Since there isn't really any agreed upon scientific definition what "a fish" is, it's pretty much a perfect name

5
bortreply
feddit.de

there isn’t really any agreed upon definition what “a fish” is,

are you sure?

7
Nepenthereply
kbin.social

Are sharks fish? Sharks are fish. They live in water, and use their gills to filter oxygen from the water.

Seems pretty easy to me. Even lungfish have gills.

1
mercreply
sh.itjust.works

Do frogs have gills? The tadpole stage of frogs might be fish, but adult frogs aren't fish.

But, whether or not you want to consider axolotl and frogs fish, "gills" is a neat line that separates humans from trout and sharks.

1

Sure but what the OP was saying is that these common definitions of fish are paraphyletic. In order to make a monophyletic group including everything we call fish, we'd have to include humans, birds, lizards, etc. And going by the water-and-gills definition, this group would include things we tend not to call fish like crabs, amphibians, sea slugs, some insects... Not to mention that gills have evolved multiple times. And something like a frog being not a fish but it's larvae being fish doesn't make sense for cladistics.

separates humans from trout

I'm a little bit curious about why you specifically selected humans to be differentiated from fish

2

Image Transcription: Tumblr


erinsintra

animals that do not live up to their names

  • horseshoe crab (not a horseshoe; not a crab)
  • peacock (has no cock)
  • sand dollar (not made of sand, actually costs 13 dollars)
  • butterfly (does not contain butter)
  • jellyfish (not a fish)
  • cuttlefish (see above)
  • vampire squid (not a vampire)
  • bearded dragon (beardless)
  • bald eagle (is not bald)
  • sunfish (will not kill you within minutes due to intense heat as you approach it)
  • ping pong tree sponge (cannot play ping pong)
  • praying mantis (atheist)

animals that live up to their names

  • fly
2
Ghost33313reply
kbin.social

... peacocks have cocks and bearded dragons have beards they just aren't made of hair.

4
sh.itjust.works

Peacocks do not have cocks. Bother male and female have cloacae(like 99% of birds)

Beard, by definition, must be hair.

Bearded dragons do not have a beard. They were named as such because thier throat turns black and puffs up. Giving the appearance of a beard.

7