- cross-posted to:
- gullfriends
- cross-posted to:
- gullfriends
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If 90% of the population call them seagulls, and 99% of the population understand what you mean when you say “seagull”, then yes, they are actually called seagulls
It’s like what I say to bother botanists:
If half of the fruits with “berry” in their name don’t fit your definition of berry, you need a new definition
Annoy naturalists with these other animal names too: Jellyfish, crawfish, starfish, Killer Whale, Canadian Geese, and American Buffalo.
wtf who’s beefing with starfish
Me
Brainless idjuts
Typical customer service annoyant?
Should we add an exception when it comes to technical discussions?
If you’re an ornithologist writing a scientific paper, you’d presumably be using a genus + species in Latin rather than any colloquial name anyway, while still acknowledging that they fall under the umbrella term “seagull” for most people. But I’m a descriptive linguist, rather than prescriptive, and that’s really what this meme is about (it’s not about seagulls)
Birds actually have scientific common names and it’s completely acceptable to refer to them with those names. They even have standardized bird abbreviations using those names, like Red-tailed Hawk is RTHA. They of course use the latin names too, and those have their own abbreviations (Buteo jamaicensis is BUTJAM) but the common names are handier.
Noooo then how are we going to get memes like this?
I enjoy having semi-serious discussions about nonsense like this, so I appreciate RubberElectron’s reply calling me out
The very first line of the Wikipedia entry on Gull says: "Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. ". Colloquially speaking all gulls are seagulls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull
The entry lists 54 species of Gull, and indeed from a pedantic perspective, none of their common names are “seagull”. Nor are any of their binomial names Latin for “seagull”. But there is Larus pacificus, either very calm or associated with the ocean of the same name. Also there is Larus atlanticus, and Larus Marinus (pretty dang close).
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as a Gull, is in fact, Sea/Gull, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, Sea plus Gull. Gull is not an categorization unto itself, but rather another component of a full identity made useful by the kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species components comprising a full identification as defined by its scientific classification.
LOL, now do the Navy Gulls copypasta or “here’s the thing…”
Something something jackgull
In Swedish Larus Marinus is called “Havstrut” which would translate to Seagull but I guess that doesn’t count.
My fellow citizens, we got him.
50 species of gulls and every last one of them is a cunt.
Fucking love seagulls. Grew up at the beach, gulls everywhere. They used to dig in our trash cans and we had to put heavy weights on the lids. Still fucking love em. They’re awesome, amazing trash birds who give zero fucks. I have seen gulls fully steal food from people’s mouths. I’ve seen them sit on windshields and refuse to move so you can drive, including just allowing the wipers to fwap into them repeatedly.
Seagulls aren’t cunts. Seagulls serve cunt, and I love them for it.
They most certainly are not. Make friends with one and they will bring you presents. https://lemmings.world/post/14253921
I’ve seen a gull eat a dead pigeon in the town square. I don’t think I want their presents any more than the ones my cats think I do.
Gulls have to eat.
From my experience, they’re “Hanging around outside the chip shop” gulls.
That anon’s name? Steven Seagullible
Now I know this, I will be crying every time I go to the ocean
