# Whale tries to eat man **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124 "2021-06-12T15:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/21 "2021-06-13T00:13:33Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > [@Riemann](#): > > > > God telling us not to be shellfish > > We’re supposed to be God’s sheep, not his lobsters. - Clam up, you two. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/22 "2021-06-13T00:39:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This new board software really needs a ‘whoosh’ smilie. 😉   Yep! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/23 "2021-06-13T00:47:27Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > I grew up in conservative churches, that used the KJV exclusively. When you do that, you **HAVE TO** be aware of how the English language has changed over time, or some passages won’t make sense. I am aware of these interpretations, but you have to realize that they were retrospective re-interpretations of Old Testament strictures, albeit for interesting historical reasons. There are many Biblical restrictions on the consumption of seafood, which extended to prohibitions on the use of diving equipment. But by the late Middle Ages, the seafood industry was very important to the economy of eastern Syria, and these reinterpretations of the language were simply a matter of convenience for the ostensibly devout, to adapt Biblical ideology to the practicalities of underwater exploration. At the time, everyone knew what the verses really meant - I mean, obviously it’s just coincidence that the word “divers” is similar to “diverse”, the etymology is completely different. But with time, the more convenient re-interpretation was accepted as canonical. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/24 "2021-06-13T00:51:00Z")
Awfully breezy in here for some unknown reason… ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/25 "2021-06-13T00:53:14Z")
💨 💨 💨 💨 💨 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/26 "2021-06-13T00:58:46Z")
You really have to go back to the Dead Sea Scrolls as the definitive artifact on divers weight, hence why the scrolls were located in the Dead Sea. > if you used divers weight at Sea, you were Dead to me- G-D ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/27 "2021-06-13T01:03:44Z")
Meh. Just another whale swallows man story. That’s not news. You want news? Come back when you have a man swallows whale story. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/28 "2021-06-13T02:22:58Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This new board software really needs a ‘whoosh’ smilie. [![](https://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-07-28-1438094156-437530-sarcastic-thumb.jpg) ](https://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-07-28-1438094156-437530-sarcastic-thumb.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/29 "2021-06-13T09:51:13Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > And dishonest scales are not good. While the Bible refers to whales as fish, they are actually mammals, so do not have scales. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/30 "2021-06-13T10:02:28Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > While the Bible refers to whales as fish, they are actually mammals, so do not have scales. That’s not kosher. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/31 "2021-06-13T10:53:49Z")
Truth. Fish that don’t have scales aren’t kosher! ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/32 "2021-06-13T10:59:17Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > So it’s pretty clear why god sent this whale to eat the guy. God gets pissed off about some weird stuff, but I guess that’s his prerogative. It may seem weird, but it’s not without antecedent. 2 Kings 6:4–6 _They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”_ _6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float._ The point being that the righteous man can control his own buoyancy, hence using weights is an affront to the Lord. ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/33 "2021-06-13T11:12:20Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > While the Bible refers to whales as fish, they are actually mammals, so do not have scales. They are, of course, insects… (at 2:20) [Peter Cook - John Cleese (good quality) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0lraX7Hmk) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/34 "2021-06-13T11:27:00Z")
Of course, in modern taxonomy, it’s true that whales are fish. Whales are a subset of mammals, mammals are a subset of tetrapods, tetrapods are a subset of lobe-finned fish, and lobe-finned fish are a subset of fish. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/35 "2021-06-13T11:36:21Z")
Slightly serious question: I’ve come across the word “divers” before (Shakespeare used it), and I wonder if there is to this day any subtle difference between “divers” and “diverse”. I sort of have the sense that there is. I used the word “divers” in an essay in and English Composition class once. The teacher corrected it to “diverse”. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/36 "2021-06-13T11:37:05Z")
You’re the one who says chickens don’t cross roads, aren’t ya? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/37 "2021-06-13T12:50:05Z")
Some people are skeptical: > **[Cape Cod lobsterman’s whale of a tale sounds fishy, experts say](https://nypost.com/2021/06/12/cape-cod-lobstermans-whale-of-a-tale-sounds-fishy-experts/)** > > At least one doctor at the Cape Cod hospital that Michael Packard, who claims he was nearly swallowed by a humpback, expressed skepticism to The Post about the tale. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/38 "2021-06-13T12:54:18Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Some people are skeptical: - > > [Cape Cod lobsterman's whale of a tale sounds fishy: experts](https://nypost.com/2021/06/12/cape-cod-lobstermans-whale-of-a-tale-sounds-fishy-experts/) The New York Post is worried about the _truth_? :boggles: ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/39 "2021-06-13T17:19:14Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > It may seem weird, but it’s not without antecedent. > 2 Kings 6:4–6 > _They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”_ > > _6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float._ And then the man [sayeth](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HonestAxe), “Waiteth thou a minute! Whereth ith the silver axe? Whereth the golden? Areth thou shitting me?” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124/40 "2021-06-13T21:39:23Z")
There is some confusion about how King James spelled “diverse”. If he used “divers” who would argue with him? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whale-tries-to-eat-man/944124.md?page=3)