# Need examples of things that aren't what their name implies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 27, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432 "2011-05-27T15:14:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/1 "2011-05-27T15:14:41Z")
Sorry about the imprecise title, but that’s kind of my problem. You know how a matchbook isn’t really a book? I need a few examples of those. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/2 "2011-05-27T15:31:44Z")
Grape-Nuts - it contains neither grapes, nor nuts. Discuss.
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### Author:  [@samjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samjones)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/3 "2011-05-27T15:33:10Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#):
>
> Sorry about the imprecise title, but that’s kind of my problem. You know how a matchbook isn’t really a book? I need a few examples of those. Thanks.
labor day
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/4 "2011-05-27T15:33:26Z")
Good – I’m looking more for objects rather than brand names. But thank you. I bet I could think of a bunch of them if I didn’t _need_ them.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/5 "2011-05-27T15:43:01Z")
A peanut is neither a pea nor a nut?
A “koala bear” is not a bear, but not sure how much they are called “bear” anymore.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/6 "2011-05-27T15:49:13Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> A peanut is neither a pea nor a nut?
That’s like what I’m looking for. Need several more like this. Thanks for helping.
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### Author:  [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/7 "2011-05-27T15:53:13Z")
Jumbo shrimp.
ETA: Hmmm… I take that back. However, why is it called a baseball park? A park has benches and trees and maybe a water fountain, places to play and toss a frisbee etc.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/8 "2011-05-27T15:55:44Z")
One parks in a driveway, but drives on a parkway.
Someone ought to ask Cecil why that is.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/9 "2011-05-27T15:58:41Z")
A coconut is not a nut.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/10 "2011-05-27T16:08:33Z")
> [@lukeinva](#):
>
> However, why is it called a baseball park? A park has benches and trees and maybe a water fountain, places to play and toss a frisbee etc.
It’s closer to being a park than what the Brits call a “car park.”
food stamps?
hot dogs?
pineapples?
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/11 "2011-05-27T16:09:08Z")
Album, in the sense of recorded music.
Which arguably hasn’t actually been one since the days of 78s, and is now being applied to downloads.
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### Author:  [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/12 "2011-05-27T16:18:06Z")
sweetbreads
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/13 "2011-05-27T16:21:06Z")
Sweetbreads (thymus and pancreas) are certainly not bread and are not very sweet.
ETA: Damn it. Beaten to the punch again.
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### Author:  [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/what_do_I_type_here)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/14 "2011-05-27T16:22:52Z")
Mincemeat pie apprently has no meat in it.
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### Author:  [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/15 "2011-05-27T16:25:15Z")
Peanuts
How about the television “dial”? You know, the one they’re always telling us not to touch…Do they even do that anymore, or am I just getting that old?
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/16 "2011-05-27T16:28:03Z")
Technically, a “battery” is a collection of electrochemical cells (“battery” basically means an assemblage of units), but the term is generally used to refer to a single cell.
The U.S. five-cent piece known as the “nickel” is composed of 25% nickel and 75% copper.
[Head cheese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese)ain’t cheese. (Of course, toe jam ain’t jam either, but that’s slang.)
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/17 "2011-05-27T16:30:24Z")
There’s a whole list of animals but the only one I can think of now is the Naked Mole Rat – it’s none of the three (“naked” = hairless)
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/18 "2011-05-27T16:46:34Z")
Egg cream
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/19 "2011-05-27T16:46:44Z")
> [@yabob](#):
>
> Album, in the sense of recorded music.
>
> Which arguably hasn’t actually been one since the days of 78s, and is now being applied to downloads.
But I think a modern album of downloads is probably closer to the original meaning. Before there was recorded music, an album was a book in which you put a collection of objects you wanted to save. (A meaning that still exists in a photo album.)
A vinyl LP may have been a collection of songs for you to keep but it wasn’t a group that you had collected. A download album is your collection of songs.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-examples-of-things-that-arent-what-their-name-implies/583432/20 "2011-05-27T16:47:48Z")
The Holy Roman Empire did not include the city of Rome through most of its existence.
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