“Pterodactyls are fish” seems disingenuous to insert when two of the previous ones are about pedantic taxonomy facts (which are true). “Fish” are paraphyletic and thus not an actual taxon, but as a practical group, it’s all non-tetrapod vertebrates – and order Pterosauria are decidedly tetrapods.
It’s trying to be pedantic in a cheeky way but just ends up being wrong.
Edit: Just so I balance this out, though, anyone wanting to be humorously pedantic about aquatic taxonomy should check out WoRMS (the World Register of Marine Species). They’ve always been, to me, the most up-to-date source on the taxonomy of marine, freshwater, and brackish biota short of reading the actual scientific literature.
I find pedants are often wrong or completely missing the point.
Sometimes it triggers a fun discussion. and sometimes it’s just tedious.
(ghoti could never be pronounced like “fish” because “gh” only sounds like an F near the end of a word after au or ou, but ghoti is at least an interesting way to bring up the topic of weird inconsistencies of the english language, even if it’s wrong)
For those like me that never even tried to pronounce english correctly and consequently can’t grasp the actual “chaos” hidden in that poem: The chaos (YT)
“Pterodactyls are fish” seems disingenuous to insert when two of the previous ones are about pedantic taxonomy facts (which are true). “Fish” are paraphyletic and thus not an actual taxon, but as a practical group, it’s all non-tetrapod vertebrates – and order Pterosauria are decidedly tetrapods.
It’s trying to be pedantic in a cheeky way but just ends up being wrong.
Edit: Just so I balance this out, though, anyone wanting to be humorously pedantic about aquatic taxonomy should check out WoRMS (the World Register of Marine Species). They’ve always been, to me, the most up-to-date source on the taxonomy of marine, freshwater, and brackish biota short of reading the actual scientific literature.
I find pedants are often wrong or completely missing the point.
Sometimes it triggers a fun discussion. and sometimes it’s just tedious.
(
ghoticould never be pronounced like “fish” because “gh” only sounds like an F near the end of a word afterauorou, but ghoti is at least an interesting way to bring up the topic of weird inconsistencies of the english language, even if it’s wrong)My favorite way to slap an English speaker in the face with the silly irregularities of English pronunciation is to show them the 1920 poem The Chaos.
For those like me that never even tried to pronounce english correctly and consequently can’t grasp the actual “chaos” hidden in that poem: The chaos (YT)