this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2025
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[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 days ago (4 children)

That's a little more understandable. Peas grow on vines, so you'd expect peanuts to be somehow similar to peas. I guess they get their name because they're in pods like peas but without being told, how would someone guess they grow underground?

And cashews do grow on trees (they're technically a fruit) and are similar to peanuts. Would anyone guess that cashews are fruits?

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

They're legumes that grow underground and trigger nut allergies. They are the platypus of the plant world.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't know why I remember this, but there was also a Spongebob episode that showed a potted peanut plant with peanuts growing on it like peas do.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

How dare you question the scientific accuracy of Spongebob Squarepants!

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I guess they get their name because they're in pods like peas but without being told

Presumably the opposite; they get their name because they're in shells like nuts

(The 'pea' part is because they're a legume; it could have just as easily ended up 'bean-nut', except that would over time become 'beanut', which would probably re-become peanut)

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Peas were named after peanuts?

[–] Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, okay, guessing the origin from the name can be somewhat misleading. But the striking thing for me is that people do not know and do not bother to ask themselves where a product that they consume every day or every week comes from. That's ignorance.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Why is it important to know these things? I'd rather people be ignorant of the biology of a peanut plant than ignorant of the many important things that people are ignorant of.

[–] Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I consider it important that if I am consuming a produce regularly to know what exactly I'm eating, what it is made from and where does it come from. Because the stuff I'm eating becomes a part of me. And also because I am regularly spending money for that so I will inform myself about the details of a product.

It's not about those peanuts, that's part of understanding one's own life and the contexts of life in which one is involved. And I think it is a problem that many people are consumers who are very alienated from these life contexts and no longer understand how they are actually connected to the world. That's one reason why illusions can thrive.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure it's great that this is an interest to you, but not everyone is going to care about minutia about food. At the end of the day we have to trust someone that's done some research into whether a plant is safe to eat and whether it's healthy, and in what quantities, etc. regardless of whether it's a legume or a fruit or whatever. Which food is safe and healthy is important, other biological details are trivia.

[–] Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago

I think to dismiss such basic knowledge as a mere personal interest misses the point. If people don't even know about such things that chips are made from potatoes, that is a warning sign – it's a matter of lacking general education and too many people not caring about their own actual ecosystem and dependencies.

A political cartoon by Stefan Haller: it illustrates human dependence on biodiversity using a house of cards. A person on top of the structure asks, "Why should I care about the extinction of species?", while each card below represents a different plant or animal. The precarious stack symbolizes how the removal of even one species could lead to the collapse of the entire ecosystem, impacting humanity.