The Vsauce host, Michael, discusses the concept of misnomers and how names can be misleading or incorrect. He shares various examples, including his own name being the 9th most disliked baby name, the origins of the name "Singapore" being related to lions but actually referring to a mistaken identity of a tiger, and the fact that oranges were originally called "apples" in Old English.
He also explores the differences between fruits and vegetables, noting that from a botanical perspective, fruits are the parts of plants that disseminate seeds, while vegetables are other edible parts. This leads to classifications that contradict common culinary terms, such as cucumbers being "earth apples" and mushrooms being fungi, not plants.
Michael then delves into various examples of misnomers, including French horns not being French, koalas not being bears, and kosher salt not being kosher. He also touches on the concept of skeuomorphs, which are design elements that have lost their original purpose but remain as ornamental features.
The video concludes with a philosophical discussion on the nature of identity and how our names can be seen as a type of skeuomorph, staying the same despite our constant changes over time. Michael references a book that suggests that our future selves will be connected to our present selves only tenuously, and that we may have more in common with strangers today than with our past or future selves.
1. Michael is the ninth most disliked baby name for a boy, according to a survey by Baby Named Wizard.
2. The most disliked name for a baby girl is Nevaeh, which means "heaven" spelled backwards.
3. The word "orange" comes from the Sanskrit word for the tree that oranges grow on.
4. Before the fruit was introduced to the English-speaking world, the color was referred to as "yellow-red."
5. The first recorded use of the word "orange" to refer to the color was in 1512.
6. Botanically, a fruit is a part of a flowering plant that disseminates seeds.
7. In cooking, things like wheat grains and bean pods are referred to as vegetables, even though they are technically fruits.
8. Corn kernels are fruits, making corn on the cob a collection of fruits.
9. Mushrooms are not vegetables or plants, but fungi.
10. The majority of names are not given to things by their discoverers, but rather to honor someone else.
11. Diagrams were introduced by Leonardo Euler, but named after John Venn.
12. Avogadro's constant was not discovered by Avogadro, but rather by someone else who discovered the exact figure.
13. French horns are not from France, but were named by British and American soldiers during World War I.
14. Koala bears are not bears, but rather marsupials that resemble bears.
15. Eggplants do not grow eggs, but were named by 18th-century cultivators who thought they resembled eggs.
16. Dry cleaning is not dry, but uses liquids other than water.
17. Hamburgers are named after Hamburg, Germany, not ham.
18. Guinea pigs are not pigs, but rather rodents that resemble pigs.
19. Greenland is not actually green, but was named by Eric the Red to attract settlers.
20. Arabic numerals were invented in India, but introduced to Europe by Arab mathematicians.
21. Halley's Comet was named after Edmund Halley, but was witnessed by people as early as 240 BC.
22. Peanuts are not nuts, but legumes.
23. Coconuts are not nuts, but drupes.
24. Stone fruits, such as cherries and apricots, are not actually stones.
25. The Elizabeth Tower is officially named, not Big Ben, which is actually the nickname of the Great Bell inside.
26. Big Ben is not the official name of the tower, but rather a nickname for the Great Bell.
27. Kosher salt is not actually kosher, but is used to make things kosher.
28. The Rocky Mountain oyster is not seafood, but a fried bull testicle.
29. French fries, as they are known in America, are not from America, but were likely invented in Belgium.
30. Parkways were originally designed to be scenic routes, not highways.
31. The term "skeuomorph" refers to design elements that are no longer functional, but remain for aesthetic purposes.
32. The human body replaces almost every single atom every five years.
33. The person who will have your name in the future will be connected to you only very tenuously.
34. The future you will remember very few of your current experiences and will be psychologically quite different.