Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

recipes.howstuffworks.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 174 posts

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#51

Post by LoSboccacc »

mrleiter wrote: post #20

There's a very good video on this [1] by Innuendo Studios on why this discussion is more or subjective, since it matters in what context you say it and what you mean by it. He does this with the example of a tomato, which by botanical defintion is a fruit. But in culinary terms, it is a vegetable. So when someone says "haha, did you know that a tomato is actually a fruit", it's subjective and can almost have no added…

> Cooks know the taste of the tomato and will use it accordingly.

this is an exceptionally simplistic view since tomato is readily available as juice, as opposed as zucchini and peppers, whose are seldom used in cocktails that aren't smoothies

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#52

Post by barrkel »

blowski wrote: post #11
monadic2 wrote: post #4

Is anything actually gained from rigid definitions like this? People clearly use berry in a different way than botanists do.

It's just wordplay, a basic pun, because the same word, "berry", appears in two different contexts. In everyday usage, a strawberry is a berry, but in botany it's not. If you're doing botany, you should probably use the latin term Fragaria instead of strawberry. Edit: If you like this, you'll also find interesting that many nuts (hazlenuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds) are not nuts but seeds. One of the few…

Hazelnuts are also botanical nuts.

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#53

Post by mantap »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #51
mrleiter wrote: post #20

There's a very good video on this [1] by Innuendo Studios on why this discussion is more or subjective, since it matters in what context you say it and what you mean by it. He does this with the example of a tomato, which by botanical defintion is a fruit. But in culinary terms, it is a vegetable. So when someone says "haha, did you know that a tomato is actually a fruit", it's subjective and can almost have no added…

> Cooks know the taste of the tomato and will use it accordingly. this is an exceptionally simplistic view since tomato is readily available as juice, as opposed as zucchini and peppers, whose are seldom used in cocktails that aren't smoothies

Peppers are also fruits though.

I think this is merely a flaw with the English language. Tomatoes are fruits (fruit of the tomato plant) but they are not fruit (a food category). It's two separate words with different grammatical treatment.

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#54

Post by zokier »

mrweasel wrote: post #49
d--b wrote: post #27

The scientific name is bad, it confuses everyone. Why not change that instead of telling people that berries aren't berries?

Then you'd have to redefine what a berry is. Do we just have a list of things that are berries? If so, who get to define that list? What if you forget one? Would that thing then not a berry anymore? You'd could also try to make so criteria that defines berries, but that's what we already have, even though it tells us that strawberries aren't berries. We could make new ones, but how do we ensure that bananas becomes f…

> Then you'd have to redefine what a berry is.

Why? I don't see pressing need for a waterproof definition. I'd think for general use "I know it when I see it" definition suffices, and for where exactitude matters having explicit list is better anyways

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#56

Post by Angostura »

hansbo wrote: post #55

I read up on these things some time ago, and what amused me the most is that while almost every vegetable is a fruit, the Juniper berry is, in fact, a cone.

> almost every vegetable is a fruit.

I think you'll need to clarify that a bit - most vegetables are roots, leaves, flowers or stalks.

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#57

Post by scandinavegan »

blowski wrote: post #11
monadic2 wrote: post #4

Is anything actually gained from rigid definitions like this? People clearly use berry in a different way than botanists do.

It's just wordplay, a basic pun, because the same word, "berry", appears in two different contexts. In everyday usage, a strawberry is a berry, but in botany it's not. If you're doing botany, you should probably use the latin term Fragaria instead of strawberry. Edit: If you like this, you'll also find interesting that many nuts (hazlenuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds) are not nuts but seeds. One of the few…

Also, coffee beans are not beans, but the pit (that usually comes in two parts) of the coffee fruit. It's the same with cocoa beans, but with 30-50 seeds per fruit.

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#58

Post by sammorrowdrums »

The distinction between different domain terminologies is prescient for software development.

https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/359604

Especially when there is conflict between domain terminology and coding concepts.

For example my company at large refers to Booleans (meaning search expressions that are vaguely Boolean in nature in our sense, that job boards enable for CV searching).

Ultimately mutual understanding trumps being correct in my view.

That said, when I have to weigh vegetables in supermarket I still pause before selecting the vegetable category to weigh tomatoes.

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#59

Post by Angostura »

blowski wrote: post #29
mcv wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know peanuts weren't nuts, but hazelnuts and walnuts?!

If you can find it, there's an episode of the BBC comedy panel show "Unbelievable Truth" where they list all the nuts that aren't nuts. Entertaining and surprising. The bit we eat is usually a seed or fruit - the shell encasing it is a nut. At least, that's what I understood.

Series 21 episode 5 David Mitchell's rant is splendid.

Re: Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren't

#60

Post by bipson »

mantap wrote: post #53
LoSboccacc wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cooks know the taste of the tomato and will use it accordingly. this is an exceptionally simplistic view since tomato is readily available as juice, as opposed as zucchini and peppers, whose are seldom used in cocktails that aren't smoothies

Peppers are also fruits though. I think this is merely a flaw with the English language. Tomatoes are fruits (fruit of the tomato plant) but they are not fruit (a food category). It's two separate words with different grammatical treatment.

You might want to read this small section on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Fruit_versus_vegetable
Post reply on HN