We surrender language to scientific/other detail oriented pursuits too easily.
According to some, a raspberry is not a berry, but a pumpkin is. That’s dumb. The word berry existed before botanists tried (and failed) to determine exactly what it meant, and the original meaning is still way better/more useful than the botany one.
So here it is: a berry is a small fruit, which is usually sweet, and usually edible. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, grapes, gooseberries, currants, and blueberries are all berries. Pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes, zucchini and bananas are not.
Other terms that have been co-opted this way include “work”, “salt”, and “rock”. I believe the fields stealing these terms should be forced to come up with their own, different words.
I cope by just being a little extra specific when I can find the words to do so, like calling out botanically squash are fruits and mushrooms are fungi, while culinarily they work as veggies.
And it’s not like the other meanings of those words have been erased. I don’t even think the scientific uses are used more commonly than the every day ones.
And if someone “corrects” you just say you weren’t using the scientific term and they can fuck off with their useless contribution. Or say “hmm” and continue what you were saying if the previous instructions would be destructive to your way of life.
We surrender language to scientific/other detail oriented pursuits too easily.
According to some, a raspberry is not a berry, but a pumpkin is. That’s dumb. The word berry existed before botanists tried (and failed) to determine exactly what it meant, and the original meaning is still way better/more useful than the botany one.
So here it is: a berry is a small fruit, which is usually sweet, and usually edible. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, grapes, gooseberries, currants, and blueberries are all berries. Pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes, zucchini and bananas are not.
Other terms that have been co-opted this way include “work”, “salt”, and “rock”. I believe the fields stealing these terms should be forced to come up with their own, different words.
I like this take!
I cope by just being a little extra specific when I can find the words to do so, like calling out botanically squash are fruits and mushrooms are fungi, while culinarily they work as veggies.
Force them how?
And it’s not like the other meanings of those words have been erased. I don’t even think the scientific uses are used more commonly than the every day ones.
And if someone “corrects” you just say you weren’t using the scientific term and they can fuck off with their useless contribution. Or say “hmm” and continue what you were saying if the previous instructions would be destructive to your way of life.