• RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    I was going to disagree with you based on etymological pedantry, but it turns out the Old English “mete” just means “food” so now I have to agree with you based on etymological pedantry.

    • TWeaK@feddit.uk
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      23 hours ago

      Fuck’s sake, 2nd time that’s happened to me in this thread. I thought steak should just be beef, but it turns out:

      The word steak was written steke in Middle English, and comes from the mid-15th century Scandinavian word steik, related to the Old Norse steikja ‘to roast on a stake’, and so is related to the word stick or stake.

      I don’t even want to look up bacon now, I need to believe that it should just be pig.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 day ago

      Just like how the rules forbidding plant milk to be called milk make no sense. Plant milk has existed for many centuries.

      • TWeaK@feddit.uk
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        22 hours ago

        “Plant milk” could be a bit like “berry” though, in that as we have consolidated and rationalised our definitions it falls out of it. When we tried to come up with a clear idea of what a “berry” is we ended up excluding almost everything that has “berry” in the name. Like how tomatoes are fruits by the technical definition of a fruit.

        Except for the fact that the reason plant milk is being excluded is entirely commercial lobbying, rather than a scientific or rational definition.