The video discusses the concept of misnomers, or names that are misleading or incorrect. It starts with the host, Michael, who notes that his name is the 9th most disliked baby name, according to a survey. He then shares various examples of misnomers, such as Singapore being named "Lion City" despite having no lions, and the word "orange" referring to a color that was not named after the fruit, but rather the tree it grows on.
The host also discusses how names can be confusing due to Stigler's Law, which states that we tend to name things after people who are not the actual discoverers or originators. He provides examples such as Venn diagrams and Avogadro's Constant.
The video also touches on the concept of skeuomorphs, or design elements that are merely ornamental but were once functional. The host notes that our names can be seen as a type of skeuomorph, as they were given to us at birth before we knew what we would become.
Finally, the host discusses the idea that our identities change over time, and that we are not the same person from one moment to the next. He quotes Robert M. Martin, who suggests that the future version of ourselves will be only tenuously connected to our current selves. The host concludes by saying that this perspective can change the way we think about death and our sense of self.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Michael is the ninth most disliked baby name for a boy, according to a survey by BabyNameWizard.com.
2. Nevaeh is the most disliked name for a baby girl, and it means "heaven" spelled backwards.
3. The name Singapore comes from a Malay word for "Lion City," but lions have never naturally lived in Singapore.
4. It's believed that Sang Nila Utama named Singapore in 1299, thinking a tiger he saw was a lion.
5. The word "orange" comes from the Sanskrit word for the tree that oranges grow on.
6. Before oranges were introduced to the English-speaking world, the color was called "yellow-red."
7. The first recorded use of the word "orange" to refer to the color was in 1512.
8. Botanically, a fruit is a part of a flowering plant that disseminates seeds.
9. In cooking, items like wheat grains and bean pods are often called vegetables, but are actually fruits.
10. Vegetable is a culinary term for other edible parts of a plant that aren't fruit.
11. Corn kernels are technically fruits.
12. Mushrooms are not vegetables or plants, but fungi.
13. Venn diagrams were introduced by Leonhard Euler in 1768, but were named after John Venn in the 1880s.
14. Avogadro's Constant was not discovered by Avogadro, but by a different person.
15. French horns are not French in origin.
16. The "funny bone" is actually the ulnar nerve.
17. The Elizabeth Tower, not Big Ben, is the official name of the tower in London.
18. The main bell inside Elizabeth Tower is officially called The Great Bell, and its nickname is Big Ben.
19. Kosher salt is not actually kosher, but is used to make things kosher.
20. Rocky Mountain Oysters are actually fried bull testicles.
21. Arabic numerals were invented in India, but introduced to Europe by Arab mathematicians.
22. Haley's comet was named after Edmund Halley, but was first witnessed by people in 240 BC.
23. Peanuts are not nuts, but legumes.
24. Coconuts are not nuts, but drupes (stone fruits).
25. French fries were likely invented in Belgium, not France.
26. Koala bears are not actually bears, but marsupials that resemble bears.
27. Eggplants do not grow eggs, but were named because they resemble eggs.
28. Dry cleaning is not actually dry, but involves wet liquids other than water.
29. Hamburgers are named after Hamburg, Germany, not the pork product ham.
30. Guinea pigs are not pigs, but small, furry mammals that resemble pigs.
31. Greenland is not actually green, but was named by Erik the Red to attract settlers.
32. Parkways are often named after nature parks they run along, not because they are for stopping cars.
33. Skeuomorphs are design elements that are now ornamental, but originally had a purpose.
34. The human body replaces almost all of its atoms every five years, with the exception of non-living things like tattoos and piercings.