Men’s Rights Activists and other antifeminists always hate it when feminists point them to dictionary definitions of feminism as “the advocacy of equal rights for men and women” (or similar) rather than “a seekrit cabal of evil spermjacking sluts that want to genocide all men,” which is what all MRAs apparently think feminism really is.
In the meme below, one anti-feminist tries to prove that dictionary definitions aren’t always right so there, and if the dictionary can get “tomato” wrong then it must have feminism wrong too!
Aw, dude. You tried. But apparently you didn’t bother to check the dictionary definition of “tomato” first. Here’s what you get if you type the words “tomato definition” into Google.
D’oh!
Knowledge is knowing tomatoes are fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put them in fruit salad.
Philosophy is wondering if this means ketchup is technically a smoothie.
—
But yeah SJA beat me to defining what a fruit is. Most people tend to assume fruit = sweet plant, but by definition of what plant part a fruit is, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, pumpkins and cucumbers are all fruit. Vegetable just means you eat any other part of the plant (stem, root, leaves).
…so does this mean if you make a salad with just cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers, is that a fruit salad?
In political news, yesterday was Hawaii’s Democratic Preference poll. I couldn’t make it despite being registered because I had to work until 5, and the locations closed at 3 despite the democratic website saying that there is no official closing time. Some voters were actually turned away because of the high turnout. But at least the one I wanted to vote for, Bernie Sanders, still won.
http://khon2.com/2016/03/26/bernie-sanders-comes-out-on-top-of-hawaii-democratic-preference-poll/
There are some people who use Buddhism to justify intolerance and violence, does that mean the rest of Buddhism is inherently wrong?
Oh wait, MRA’s have violent hateful extremists on their side too, I guess they just proved their own movement is invalid. See what happens when you set sloppy precedents?
@SJA
I’ve known a number of people whose problem with ketchup is that it’s too sweet. You might enjoy an unsweetened ketchup.
I think my favourite tomato dish is a small bowl of grape tomatoes, which I just finished before clicking on this post.
I do despise tomato ketchup for its oversweetness, though I have enjoyed spicy banana ketchup in the past.
Dictionaries are… really a terrible source for a nuanced subject, for one. Also they describe how a word was used at the time the dictionary was compiled, as opposed to actually prescribing a meaning, which should be obvious by the fact that word meanings change, and yet.
I’m also curious as to how dictionary fetishists are handling the inclusion of singular they these days, as I know that was one of the usual whines about why the term is somehow wrong.
I actually like basil – white onion/red onion – tomato – mozzarella salad. Just slice everything nice and thin and layer them, drizzle with olive oil, possibly add some good-quality olives too and I’d chuck in some garlic cloves marinated in oil as well.
Also:
http://i.imgur.com/SGr4oQ0.jpg
@Dalillama
Yep, that’s the exact reason I don’t like ketchup. It’s too sweet and has a sort of “tang” to it that I don’t like. I haven’t tried unsweetened ketchup before. Perhaps I would like it, since I do like pizza and pasta sauce and salsa. And tomato soup.
I guess I like more of a salty or savory taste to my tomato products rather than sweet, but I like some pizza sauces that taste sort of sweet. Regular ketchup just tastes sickly sweet to me.
Right now the men are in the kitchen working and us women are loafing in the living room drinking wine.
EASTER MISANDRY
My favorite tomato-based dish? Probably pasta with arrabbiata and vegetable meatballs.
It’s just another gambit of “What they say is… but what they MEAN is…” without ever really considering what we say, or honestly weighing its value.
I make a kickass salsa. Can’t wait for summer!
A good tomato bisque soup is a complement to any sandwich.
I should be tending to Easter things, not to things dealing with tomatoes and how MRA guys are afraid of eating their vegetables as they are afraid of women.
@WeirwoodTreeHugger
My aunt and I decided to just soak the ham in a rum-based marinade as it cooks in the oven.
My favorite tomato-based dish:
http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/creole-tomato-salad
Make it in summer with fresh tomatoes and sweet onions from the farmer’s market. I love it with a mix of orange and yellow tomatoes and Walla Walla sweet onions.
Tomato-based curries are one of my favourite things, even if I’m not generally a tomato fan. In fact right now I’m waiting for my pathia to reduce. I’m a big believer that even when you’re living in poverty you’ll always be ok for food as long as you can keep yourself stocked up on tinned tomatoes, onion and rice (and a good range of herbs and spices).
I also love cherry tomatoes. My mum used to grow them in the house and we’d just pop them off the tree and eat them, or my dad would fry them up as part of a full English breakfast. Gorgeous.
Read another way, the statement is correct:
The dictionary says “a tomato is a fruit but people use it as a vegetable.”
Because that’s almost exactly what the dictionary excerpt says.
I like homemade ketchup (or rather the stuff I get in a jar that calls itself homemade ketchup): there are tomato chunks and other things, so I guess it’s more like a chutney or antipasto (or non-spicy salsa). And it’s not too sweet.
Speaking of dictionary definitions: I have a large vocabulary, but it’s not a practical one. I can tell you what “metonymy” and “ineluctable” mean, but when I try to describe real-life objects, I end up going “that thing there that does such a thing and attaches to this other thing…”
Today I learned what bay windows are (a set of windows that jut out from a building) and what bow windows are (bay windows in a curved space). (Wikipedia link.)
How does my mother know this??? Did she go to some school for Names of Obscure Objects??
Just found this. Bananas are berries and strawberries are not? Walnuts are not nuts? WHAT?!
Hi everyone. Had eye surgery few days ago. Fo nit computer much.
Capresse salad!
I’m going to defy the guy in BritterSweet’s video and be that pedantic person: a vegetable is defined by how you use it in cookery. There’s no scientific definition of “vegetable” restricting it to stems, leaves and roots. There is no scientific definition of “vegetable” at all. The definition is entirely culinary, and depends equally on the style of cooking in which you are using the plant, and the cultural tradition in which you live.
Culinary definitions and scientific definitions don’t have to match, because they both use the same language but for different purposes. Strawberries are, in culinary terms, berries, and nobody has to feel bad or stupid for referring to them as such, even though botany has a different term for them.
Using “science” as a weapon for making you feel stupid for using English in the usual way is not cool and I do not approve.
@mockingbird
Aglet. Gunwale. Escutcheon. Monocoque.
I’m just going to say that German has some of the best words the English language has ever borrowed.
Backpfeifengesicht is currently my favorite.
jy3, Social Justice Beguiler, I’m pretty certain that it is impossible to make meatballs out of vegetables; made from vegetarian animals maybe, but not from vegetables.
Please tell me how you achieve this paradoxical feat of culinary magic.
So, because the official definition and the fuckwit definition of “feminism” diverge, the fuckwit version should prevail because tomato?
Technically, tomatoes are part of the nightshade family (as are all fruits that have those cute little elfin green hats, like eggplants). But we still eat them and they’re delicious and tasty and good for you in all kinds of ways. Only fearful ninnies look at femi – er, tomatoes and shriek “POISON!”
@Nobody Special, vegetable meatballs just sound better than vegetable balls.
@weirwoodtreehugger
Well my dad cooked Easter dinner. (Lamb done to perfection.) And he is very proud of it. Is that misandry? (He does the majority of cooking as my mum and I work very anti-social hours. Care work is very flexible in the bad way.) 😀