this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 36 points 5 months ago (1 children)

He should show her this. The fact that it means “flowers” in Swahili might help. It won’t solve the trust issues, but it’s better than nothing.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee -2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I mean if they aren't Swahili why would they pick something randomly from that language?

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 13 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The same reason a lot of people do: because it sounds nice. Plus, maybe flowers were what the cicada was named after. When someone discovers a species, they usually get a decent amount of leeway when naming it.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 5 months ago

honestly it's not just a decent amount of leeway, it's basically free game so long as you're not outright offensive.

There's a gene called "sonic hedgehog", and many other organisms with names that are specifically meant to just be funny and absurd.