this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

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  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
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  4. Posts must be original/unique
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If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

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[–] Isoprenoid@programming.dev 59 points 3 months ago (4 children)

“apple” used to be a generic term for fruit.

Oh, that explains the myth that Adam and Eve at an apple, when a specific fruit is never mentioned.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/apple

[–] Kushan@lemmynsfw.com 15 points 3 months ago

That's a bingo.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It also explain why we here in the Nordics call oranges "appelsin", as in a "Chinese apple".

[–] appelkooskonfyt@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago

Same in Dutch: sinaasappel

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Great! Can't have myths about random fruit in this otherwise totally valid, reasonable and trustworthy story about a woman that was made from a man's rib and talked to reptiles.

[–] Isoprenoid@programming.dev 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

If a narrative is not literally true, does that mean it has no truth value?

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What is "truth value" supposed to mean?

[–] Isoprenoid@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, I wasn't explaining myself well.

Just because a story isn't factually true, doesn't mean that it has no value, or negative value. There are other types of values which can supersede factual value:

  • aesthetic
  • symbolic
  • ethical
  • didactic

Truth isn't always about facts. Sometimes factual statements can be used as a weapon of deceit.

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 2 points 3 months ago

There are other types of value, of course. It's just funny to specifically call the apple out for being a myth. The entire story is a myth, so they could have made it a pomelo for all I care.

[–] moistclump@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

But… we’re talking French and Adam and Eve was written in Hebrew. Is it the same for Hebrew?

[–] Uruanna@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Hebrew used a generic word for fruit, all languages translated that word as their version of apple which was generic at the time, and then much later, all languages changed the meaning of their word for apple, it's not specific to French. The use of apple for one specific fruit is fairly recent - more recent than the King James Bible, even.

I don't know what the word in Hebrew is and if it also changed its meaning since then, though.

[–] nabladabla@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 months ago

Literally yes, ground apple is potato in hebrew