• NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone
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    17 hours ago

    Vegetables aren’t actually a thing though. Just a bunch of things we grouped because we like eating them.

      • Zwiebel@feddit.org
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        12 hours ago

        Yes there is. Taxonomists aren’t the only people who give meaning to words

        • grissino@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          “Taxonomists aren’t the only people who give meaning to words”

          Eloquently put! You’ve expressed a feeling that I have had for a while now and couldn’t quite put into the appropriate words! Thanks 🙏🏼

            • kadup@lemmy.world
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              1 hour ago

              They are correct. You’re not wrong, whales are indeed mammals. But “fish” isn’t a monophyletic grouping, meaning you either need to give up on using it as a category or you need to correct it by including everyone sharing the same LCA, meaning mammals would be part of your “fish” grouping.

              Of course, that’s how it works within biological classification. Colloquially, you can call them anything.

            • acockworkorange
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              9 hours ago

              All mammals are taxonomically fish. Perhaps even all chordates. YOU are a fish!

                • Masterkraft0r@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  6 hours ago

                  What they are trying to say: One cannot taxonomically group every animal we consider fish without also including all the mammals and i think even reptiles and birds. that’s because there are multiple taxonomic branches of fish that split off of the trunk before our ancestors started to walk on land, and not all of the fish in our branch decided to go on land, and continued their own branch. therefore yes: whales are fish and so are you. what does this mean? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                  it is technically correct which is, of course, the best kind of correct.