# Animals are hard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465 "2013-12-04T11:12:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/1 "2013-12-04T11:12:32Z")
Several months apart, I ordered two different pairs of pajama pants from [target.com](http://target.com). One was described as “tiger” when it very clearly had cheetahs or leopards or whatever on it (yes, I don’t know the difference between all the spotted felines, but I do know spots from stripes!) and now I ordered one that was called “doves” and it is very clearly owls! Come on guys, hire some people who went to Kindergarten. I’m pretty sure these are the only two animal things I’ve ever ordered from Target, and both were very clearly wrong. As a side note, I once ordered a shirt from somewhere else that came in two colors and neither of the colors gave ANY indication of the actual color. One was a salmon color and one was a lavender color. I wanted the lavender. After some googling I guessed that I knew the lavender color but I ended being being wrong (I can’t remember the names because this was a while ago, but even if you’re an idiot, shouldn’t you be able to tell after doing google research?). Who writes the descriptions for these things? ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/2 "2013-12-04T11:33:05Z")
I bet they’re populated by people who think fish aren’t animals either. “But…what are they then!?!” “They’re fish” “Fish are animals!” “No they’re not, animals are like cats and dogs, fish aren’t animals” Yes, I’ve actually had that conversation. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/3 "2013-12-04T11:58:05Z")
Which side of the conversation were you on? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/4 "2013-12-04T12:06:50Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I bet they’re populated by people who think fish aren’t animals either. > > “But…what are they then!?!” > > “They’re fish” > > “Fish are animals!” > > “No they’re not, animals are like cats and dogs, fish aren’t animals” > > Yes, I’ve actually had that conversation. I get that all the time! I’m sure all vegetarians do. “So, do you eat fish?” “No.” “But chicken though, right?” “No…” “Then what DO you eat?!” Man, I only wish it was half as hard to find stuff to eat as these people seem to believe. Then I would still be skinny! ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/5 "2013-12-04T12:17:57Z")
Further to your side note. I love it when a web site shows you a picture of, say, a shirt in blue, and inform you that it’s also available in five other mysterious colours such as “crayon”, “regret”, “nucleus”, “egg” and “Croatia”. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/6 "2013-12-04T12:18:00Z")
I worked with a guy with whom I had this conversation: “So… a goat… is that like a baby cow?” “Um…no. A goat is a different animal. It’s a goat.” “So… what is it then?” [This went on for a while. I’ll spare you the rest.] In the end he wanted to “agree to disagree”. This is why I don’t believe in agreeing to disagree. Probably 90% of people who want to agree to disagree with me are just plain wrong. The only kind of thing I can agree to disagree on is “lavender is a nice colour”. (My SO thinks there is a colour called “lavender green”, and it _isn’t_ the grey of lavender leaves. Again, “agree to disagree” doesn’t cut it…) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/7 "2013-12-04T12:46:23Z")
The OP’s subject line got me thinking about the [giant goat erection.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=709365) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/8 "2013-12-04T12:48:21Z")
Try working in a zoo… One that stuck in my head was when I was letting a kid hold a small python- he excitedly tells me he can feel its bones moving, and his mother snaps at him ‘Don’t be stupid, snakes don’t have bones’. I say ‘Um… yes, they do actually’ and showed her a picture of a snake skeleton- she gave me the most _furious_ look for daring to disagree with her… :rolleyes: Poor kid. The sensible looking middle aged woman who asked my mother if the monkeys laid eggs was pretty odd as well. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/9 "2013-12-04T12:51:15Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > I worked with a guy with whom I had this conversation: > > “So… a goat… is that like a baby cow?” > > “Um…no. A goat is a different animal. It’s a goat.” > > “So… what is it then?” > > [This went on for a while. I’ll spare you the rest.] > > In the end he wanted to “agree to disagree”. This is why I don’t believe in agreeing to disagree. Probably 90% of people who want to agree to disagree with me are just plain wrong. The only kind of thing I can agree to disagree on is “lavender is a nice colour”. (My SO thinks there is a colour called “lavender green”, and it _isn’t_ the grey of lavender leaves. Again, “agree to disagree” doesn’t cut it…) I’m not sure but I think you and I may have discussed this before. I had a neighbor who thought my guinea pig may have been a puppy: “is that a baby?” “Wait, what? No…” “I mean, a baby dog!” “Still no…”. People are funny. I appreciate all caring pet-owners and people who contribute in other ways, but it just makes me laugh sometimes 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/10 "2013-12-04T13:07:02Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > (My SO thinks there is a colour called “lavender green”, and it _isn’t_ the grey of lavender leaves. Again, “agree to disagree” doesn’t cut it…) There’s a song/poem that goes: “Lavender blue, dilly dilly, lavender green…” which is the likely [source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_Blue) of this misapprehension. But it’s as scientifically accurate as weasels going pop. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/11 "2013-12-04T13:34:24Z")
I once overheard a grandmother (judging by the age difference) tell her grandchild that the [white-coated animal with the long furry tail](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox) walking around in the bear enclosure was a bear cub and the it would turn brown when it got bigger. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/12 "2013-12-04T13:41:50Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > I’m not sure but I think you and I may have discussed this before. I had a neighbor who thought my guinea pig may have been a puppy: > “is that a baby?” > “Wait, what? No…” > “I mean, a baby dog!” > “Still no…”. > People are funny. I appreciate all caring pet-owners and people who contribute in other ways, but it just makes me laugh sometimes 🙂 Yes! We have, I remember the guinea pig story too! 😃 (People are pretty funny, but I had to work with the ignorant-goat-guy. The first day it was funny, and that was also the last day it was funny.) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/13 "2013-12-04T13:42:42Z")
Overheard many years ago at Canada’s Wonderland: “Look at the ducks! Look at the ducks!” As a mother pointed to the large and rather obvious swans. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/14 "2013-12-04T13:44:52Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > There’s a song/poem that goes: “Lavender blue, dilly dilly, lavender green…” which is the likely [source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_Blue) of this misapprehension. But it’s as scientifically accurate as weasels going pop. Oh please let there be someone who actually thinks weasels go pop! The song might be where he got it from, but it leaves me wondering _what colour_ lavender green _is_! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/15 "2013-12-04T13:49:30Z")
My ex is afraid of swans (she grew up in Northern Sweden where there aren’t any, at least not close to humans) so I’ve told her “It’s just a big duck”. Her response was “A big, nasty, ill-tempered duck, yo mean”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/16 "2013-12-04T14:29:56Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > The song might be where he got it from, but it leaves me wondering _what colour_ lavender green _is_! 😕 As you can see, [lavender](http://bellejheanell.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lavender-1.jpg) is blue and green (but it’s a purplish shade of blue). ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/17 "2013-12-04T15:42:22Z")
I worked with a young woman once who refused to believe owls were birds. She didn’t know what they were, but she knew they weren’t birds. And one of my current coworkers doesn’t think insects are animals, either. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/18 "2013-12-04T17:01:43Z")
I hate to interrupt the smarminess, but outside of a strictly biological context “animal” is often taken to mean mammal or vertebrate, as opposed to insects or even birds/fish. > **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com/)** > > Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/19 "2013-12-04T17:15:02Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Try working in a zoo… > > One that stuck in my head was when I was letting a kid hold a small python- he excitedly tells me he can feel its bones moving, and his mother snaps at him ‘Don’t be stupid, snakes don’t have bones’. I say ‘Um… yes, they do actually’ and showed her a picture of a snake skeleton- she gave me the most _furious_ look for daring to disagree with her… :rolleyes: > Poor kid. Paraphrasing what Charlie Brown said about Linus & Lucy: “It will take years to unteach him what she taught.” ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465/20 "2013-12-04T17:31:52Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I bet they’re populated by people who think fish aren’t animals either. > > “But…what are they then!?!” > > “They’re fish” > > “Fish are animals!” > > “No they’re not, animals are like cats and dogs, fish aren’t animals” > > Yes, I’ve actually had that conversation. I’ve had the same conversation, but about snakes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-are-hard/675465.md?page=2)