# Have you heard of this word? (Second time) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436 "2025-04-24T10:30:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/41 "2025-04-26T12:48:10Z")
Yeah, but I’m sort of into botany ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/42 "2025-04-26T12:58:51Z")
It’s another word for dolphin. Flipper was a sepal. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/43 "2025-04-26T13:15:04Z")
> [@\[b\]Mangetout\[/b\] post:41](#): > > Yeah, but I’m sort of into botany Are sepals edible? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/44 "2025-04-26T13:16:12Z")
In some cases; they’re just the things on a flower that are next to petals. Also, collectively petals + sepals = ‘tepals’ ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/45 "2025-04-26T13:18:14Z")
Okay, folks, this just got a lot more interesting…hands up all Dopers who have never, ever heard of “tepals” ! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/46 "2025-04-26T13:24:54Z")
Don’t get me started on bracts… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/47 "2025-04-26T15:42:23Z")
I think there’re big differences between: - Seeing the word “sepal” and knowing it’s the technical term for the quasi-leaf/quasi-petal transitional tissues near a flower. - Seeing the word “sepal” and having the vague recollection it’s some botanical anatomy term. (that’s me). - Seeing the word “sepal” and recognizing that it’s not a nonsense word, but rather a real word you’ve encountered somewhere before. - And most of all, being able to see “se\*al” and think of “sepal”. That fourth notion is quite different from the earlier three. And is the difference IMO between having a large vocabulary (me) and being able to play scrabble above the toddler level (not me). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/48 "2025-04-26T15:55:19Z")
Oh! And it’s an anagram of “petals”! (Ok, it didn’t take a word sleuth to spot that, but I like it.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/49 "2025-04-26T16:21:03Z")
Never mind; failed to comprehend who was replying to who about what. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/50 "2025-04-26T17:59:41Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > hands up all Dopers who have never, ever heard of “tepals” ! You got me on that one. I don’t, or at least didn’t, know that word. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Don’t get me started on bracts That one I recognize. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/51 "2025-04-27T08:48:24Z")
Everybody knows that the bird is the word! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/52 "2025-04-27T14:06:13Z")
The common thread in this is that these are words you know or at least recognize vaguely if you were serious about doing decently in a general biology class any time in the past five decades, or have an interest for the subject as an adult. And that you might not know if you really didn’t/don’t care about that subject. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/53 "2025-04-28T07:01:57Z")
I think if I was presented with SE\_AL, I might have gone for setal - it’s a resin or glue or something - I think I’ve encountered it in some woodworking context. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/54 "2025-04-28T07:27:52Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > The common thread in this is that these are words you know or at least recognize vaguely if you were serious about doing decently in a general biology class any time in the past five decades, or have an interest for the subject as an adult. Could be, but while I don’t recall _ever_ seeing sepal, codon feels like a totally commonplace word, and I’m a little surprised that anyone with an interest in science could have made it through the COVID years without encountering it. I suppose that’s a function of my relative interest in genetics vs. flower anatomy, though. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/55 "2025-04-28T08:11:47Z")
I garden, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436/56 "2025-04-28T13:46:39Z")
I garden and know the word, but doubt that I have actually used it in decades. I don’t think of it as a _technical_ word, though. More obscure, perhaps but no more technical than petal or stamen. Pretty much every kid learns the parts of flowers at some point, even if they don’t remember them later. Codon, however is entirely new to me. The only genetics I learned in school was about Father Mendel and the peas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-this-word-second-time/1017436.md?page=2)