27 Things That Are Not What They Seem

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:40 am

(This is an interesting list.

)

27 Things That Are Not What They Seem

1. A firefly is not a fly - it's a beetle.

2. A prairie dog is not a dog - it's a rodent.

3. India ink is not from India - it's from China and Egypt.

4. A horned toad is not a toad - it's a lizard.

5. A lead pencil contains no lead - it contains graphite.

6. A Douglas fir tree is not a fir - it's a pine.

7. A silkworm is not a worm - it's a caterpillar.

8. A peanut is not a nut - it's a legume.

9. A panda bear is not a bear - it's a raccoon relative.

10. A cor anglais, or English horn, is not English and not a horn - it's an alto oboe from France.

11. A guinea pig is not from Guinea and is not a pig - it's from South America and it's a rodent.

12. Shortbread is not a bread - it's a thick biscuit.

13. Dresden china is not made in Dresden - it's made in Meissen.

14. A shooting star is not a star - it's a meteor.

15. A funny bone is not a bone - it's the spot where the ulnar nerve touches the humerus.

16. Chop suey is not a native Chinese dish - it was invented by Chinese immigrants in California.

17. A bald eagle is not bald - it's got flat white feathers on its head and neck when mature, dark feathers when young.

18. A banana tree is not a tree - it's a herb.

19. A cucumber is not a vegetable - it's a fruit.

20. A jackrabbit is not a rabbit - it's a hare.

21. A piece of catgut is not from a cat - it's usually made from sheep intestines.

22. A Mexican jumping bean is not a bean - it's a seed with a larva inside.

23. A Turkish bath is not Turkish - it's Roman.

24. A koala bear is not a bear - it's a marsupial.

25. A sweetbread is not bread - it's from a calf's or lamb's pancreas or thymus.

26. Bombay duck is not a duck - it's a dried fish

27. A prairie oyster is not an oyster - it's a calf's testicle

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 2:15 am

The Holy Roman Empire was not holy, Roman nor an empire.

Cran, did you just make up that list or did you get it from somewhere?

Sliabh Luachra · Post by **Sliabh Luachra** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:18 am

Cran,

The latest consensus in the biological community is that pandas are indeed bears. Of course, it's an arbitrary decision by a bunch of scientists that may or may not have a clue. But still. . .

So make it 26 things that are not what they seem.

Mark

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:07 am

19. A cucumber is not a vegetable - it's a fruit.

and a tomato's not a vegetable either..it's a fruit. At least until it was made into a vegetable by law

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:14 am

Seems like there was an SNL skit that ran along these lines. But I can't remember what it was. Oh well.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:21 am

Wanderer wrote:19. A cucumber is not a vegetable - it's a fruit.

and a tomato's not a vegetable either..it's a fruit. At least until it was made into a vegetable by law

Fruit and vegetable aren't mutually exclusive. Lots of vegetables are fruits: eggplants, squash, bell peppers, chili peppers. Some vegetables are pods: green beans, okra.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:38 am

A banana tree is an HERB?

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:53 am

Congratulations wrote:A banana tree is an HERB?

Yup..a banana is a fruit, but a banana tree is an herb. It doesn't have a real woody trunk, but rather a false psuedo-trunk made up of tightly spaced leaves.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:02 am

Cucumbers may turn into a fruit, but they are never eaten when fully ripe. They are still in a vegetative state. So I am not sure that they are necessarily a fruit and may still be considered a vegetable. Tomatoes are a fruit, however due to import export doublespeak, the government recognizes the tomato as a vegetable because it is consumed more like a vegetable than a fruit. This argument of what something is for import is almost as bad as asking Is wolverine human?

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:22 am

The English Horn is neither a brass instrument (a woodwind) and is not English (from France, I think).

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:25 am

A bodhran player is not a player. He is an owner.

Steve

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:38 am

Yes, a cucumber is a fruit, and so is a pea pod or a bean pod. Rhubarb is not fruit. A strawberry is not a fruit. The tiny pips on the outside are the fruits. Only the core of apples and pears are fruits, not the lovely scrunchy bits we eat. A hazelnut in its shell is a fruit. A fruit is derived from the ovary of a flower in which an ovule or ovules have been fertilised by pollen-tubes and then developed into seeds, each of which contains an embryo plant with a starchy or oily food store in a protective coat. The ovary may stay dry as it develops into the fruit or it may become fleshy and juicy and coloured to attract animals. A fruit may contain a single seed or it may contain thousands.

Steve

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:38 am

Horney Toads aren't usually.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:35 pm

I.D.10-t wrote:Cucumbers may turn into a fruit, but they are never eaten when fully ripe.

Be careful, here. It's been done.

A while back I was doing some gardening for a fellow who was disabled, and as I couldn't be there on a day-to-day basis, some of the cucumbers fully ripened. They were HUGE. Yellow, too. I cut one open, peeled it, and scooped out the seeds (which by then were as developed as those of any other relative of the melon tribe), and tried the flesh: it was delicious and sweet, almost as much as other melons raised for their sweetness. As much as I enjoy cucumbers in their usual, I thought that the ripe state was a treat. It became lunch that day.

If ever I do any gardening again, I will certainly allow some of the cucumber crop to ripen. Ripened cucumbers ought not to be missed!

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:38 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
I.D.10-t wrote:Cucumbers may turn into a fruit, but they are never eaten when fully ripe.
Be careful, here. It's been done.

A while back I was doing some gardening for a fellow who was disabled, and as I couldn't be there on a day-to-day basis, some of the cucumbers fully ripened. They were HUGE. Yellow, too. I cut one open, peeled it, and scooped out the seeds (which by then were as developed as those of any other relative of the melon tribe), and tried the flesh: it was delicious and sweet, almost as much as other melons raised for their sweetness. As much as I enjoy cucumbers in their usual, I thought that the ripe state was a treat. It became lunch that day.

If ever I do any gardening again, I will certainly allow some of the cucumber crop to ripen. Ripened cucumbers ought not to be missed!

If that's the case then I wonder why eating ripe cucumbers isn't done more often. You may be on to something here.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

27 Things That Are Not What They Seem

27 Things That Are Not What They Seem

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Re: 27 Things That Are Not What They Seem