Am I getting stupider?

[germdoc]

A few nights ago at dinner one of my kids stumped me. He said that peas were a fruit. I laughed and said, of course they're not a fruit, they're a vegetable. Whereupon both my 15 and 17-year-old sons proceeded to lecture me on the definition of a fruit.

Bottom line: a pea is a fruit, which is the ripened ovary and seeds of a flowering plant. Peas, cucumbers, even legumes are fruits. A fig is not a fruit, although for culinary purposes it is considered such.

It's official. I am stupider than my kids. I have forgotten everything I ever knew about calculus and most of trigonometry. I can't diagram an English sentence. I can't list the Bill of Rights or even all of the 10 commandments (did they slip another in while I wasn't looking? what does it mean to "covet"?)

On the other hand, I can list all the bands that Eric Clapton has ever been in. I know the difference between a pale ale and a weissbier. I know what a haunched mortice and tenon is. And I know the difference between the terms "skinny" and "svelte", and "fat" and "voluptuous".

So maybe I'm not ready for the Alzheimer's ward just yet...

[cabinetman]

Jeff

Please cancel my appointment for a physical.

[cgallery]

I wouldn't have given up so easily. While I think it is technically correct that more things we consider vegtables are in fact fruits, my answer would have gone something like this:

"Shut up about peas being fruit unless you want to find them in all the future fruit salads served in this house."

But yes, I've forgotten a lot of important stuff, too. And yes, my kids bash me over the head with this fact quite often.

[Russianwolf]

tell your kids they are wrong. They have to read all the definitions not just one or two.

From Dictionary.com
Fruit
1. any product of plant growth useful to humans or animals.
2. the developed ovary of a seed plant with its contents and accessory parts, as the pea pod, nut, tomato, or pineapple.
3. the edible part of a plant developed from a flower, with any accessory tissues, as the peach, mulberry, or banana.
4. the spores and accessory organs of ferns, mosses, fungi, algae, or lichen.


So according to this, Figs ARE fruit. Mushrooms are also, yet no flower.

Secondly, some info about figs that prove they are in fact fruit.

Flowers: The tiny flowers of the fig are out of sight, clustered inside the green "fruits", technically a synconium. Pollinating insects gain access to the flowers through an opening at the apex of the synconium. In the case of the common fig the flowers are all female and need no pollination. There are 3 other types, the caprifig which has male and female flowers requiring visits by a tiny wasp, Blastophaga grossorum; the Smyrna fig, needing cross-pollination by caprifigs in order to develop normally; and the San Pedro fig which is intermediate, its first crop independent like the common fig, its second crop dependent on pollination.

Fruits: The common fig bears a first crop, called the breba crop, in the spring on last season's growth. The second crop is borne in the fall on the new growth and is known as the main crop. In cold climates the breba crop is often destroyed by spring frosts. The matured "fruit" has a tough peel (pure green, green suffused with brown, brown or purple), often cracking upon ripeness, and exposing the pulp beneath. The interior is a white inner rind containing a seed mass bound with jelly-like flesh. The edible seeds are numerous and generally hollow, unless pollinated. Pollinated seeds provide the characteristic nutty taste of dried figs.

[leehljp]

Just as history is often greatly "revised" for special reasons, Science has take the fruits and vegitables that I grew up with (and probably many of you) and revised them to fit their definition.

Which came first - our fruits and vegitables or thier definitions? I can tell you that it is our fruits and vegitables. I have some OLD encyclopedias that disagree with the current definitions, therefore current definitions are revisionist! At least that makes me feel better.

[jziegler]

Does it really matter if something is a fruit or a vegetable? The current dietary guidelines seem to group them together anyway. Both are good for you. The nutritional value of a pea is the same if it is a fruit or a vegetable.

It's all arbitrary anyway.

Jim

[parnelli]

I know the difference between a pale ale and a weissbier. I know what a haunched mortice and tenon is. And I know the difference between the terms "skinny" and "svelte", and "fat" and "voluptuous".

So what you're saying is that you know the important stuff....

[LinuxRandal]

I wouldn't have given up so easily. While I think it is technically correct that more things we consider vegtables are in fact fruits, my answer would have gone something like this:

"Shut up about peas being fruit unless you want to find them in all the future fruit salads served in this house."

But yes, I've forgotten a lot of important stuff, too. And yes, my kids bash me over the head with this fact quite often.

Have them prove it! They need to clean out the garage, and find that fruitcake that has been going around for a while, then sharpen up some tools to cut into it.

[leehljp]

AS to being stupider - I learned real quick to not give reasons for my decisions. My girls could out logic me so fast that I didn't know what hit me. So I just started saying "Cause I said so."

They hated that! It didn't give them anything to argue against! No logic, just pure will and I had more than they did!

My oldest with 5 kids has finally learned the value of "Cause I said so." She said she might be stupid but she ain't dumb!

[Deadhead]

Look on the bright side....every 10 years or so your SAT scores are adjusted up.

[jrnewhall]

I asked my neighbor/middle school science teacher how this works and why it's confusing. Her explanation is that it is a trick question. They're all vegetable as opposed to animal and mineral. The parts of vegetables we eat are leaves (spinach, lettuce), stems (celery, asparagus), seeds (peas, beans), roots (carrots, potatoes), and fruits (cucumbers, pea pods, apples). We just call most of them vegetables except for the sweet fruits we call fruit.

Now a trivia question for you to regain your knowledge dominance - What is the only fruit that has its seeds on the outside? (maybe it's too easy - answer below)









Strawberry

~JRN

[TheRic]

So if I eat Green Beans I'm eating a fruit, but if I open the Green beans and eat the seeds inside I'm eating a vegetable?!!?


OR in other words

The Green Bean is a fruit that contains a vegetable?!!?

[jrnewhall]

All fruits contain seeds, except the strawberry. And, all fruits and all seeds are vegetables.

~JRN

[scmhogg]

Jeff,

It's simple--Fruits are sweet and good, Vegetables are green and yucky.

From your list it seems to me that you are remembering the important stuff. Who needs rights and commandments.

Steve

[Russianwolf]

I asked my neighbor/middle school science teacher how this works and why it's confusing. Her explanation is that it is a trick question. They're all vegetable as opposed to animal and mineral. The parts of vegetables we eat are leaves (spinach, lettuce), stems (celery, asparagus), seeds (peas, beans), roots (carrots, potatoes), and fruits (cucumbers, pea pods, apples). We just call most of them vegetables except for the sweet fruits we call fruit.

Now a trivia question for you to regain your knowledge dominance - What is the only fruit that has its seeds on the outside? (maybe it's too easy - answer below)









Strawberry

~JRN

Maybe not. According to this the "seeds" are actually the fruit and the "berry" is part of the stem.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...7053.Bt.r.html