My whole worldview is in upheaval. I thought I had a Ph.D. in biology, and broadly understood what that entailed, but now I learn that the proper way to parse the name of the discipline is not to read “bio” as “life”, but “bi” as in “two”. I’m a two-ologist!
Isn’t folk etymology fun? Especially when wielded by a conspiracy-theorist, racist, sexist, climate-change-denying, pro-war MAGAt to get the rationalization he wants.
Wow. That boy is stupid.
Mixing greek with latin so you can rationalize your regressive gender ideology is obviously a genious move.
From now on, “sorry if this triggers you” is going to have to replace “true story” when I tell outright, obvious lies for amusement purposes.
Or in that case “bi as in two brain cells huddling together, hoping for a shot of whisky to put them out of their misery”
One ought to put the trigger warning before the trigger.
Putting it after lacks sincerity.
Like…even if we really had, for some reason, decided to call the study of living things “men-and-women-ology”…that would just mean it’s poorly named.
If I someone is sexually attracted to a living organism, does that mean they’re bio-sexual? Asking for a friend.
Well, he started off right, with “Biology is ‘basic’ silly.” Then he went off the rails by defining “bio” as male/female. Clearly bi-ology is the study of base 2. It’s a mathematical science, duh!
And apologies for assuming @ChiefsNorthFan is male. There’s nothing to indicate that’s the case.
I beg to differ with both PZ and ChiefsNorthFan. As anyone with access to Google Maps (or even the appropriate-scale Michelin maps of France) and Wikipedia can readily verify, Biol is a commune in the French département d’Isère not too far south of Geneva, Switzerland, while Ogy was (until January 2017) a commune in the French département de Moselle, only slightly south of the capital city of Luxembourg. Thus it is clear that Biology was, is, and should always remain the study of connections between minimal, liminal geographical components of the eastern portions of European francophonia. How that One Correct Usage became perverted into those of PZ and CNF remains a bit of a mystery, but, hey; that’s life! (I suspect that the devil made them do it. Or the communists. Maybe both.)
Anyone want to take bets that this gentleman believes in defending Western civilization and its values and heritage? Funny how the people who say that never seem that interested in donating to museums or foundations educating folks, or learning their basic prefixes and suffixes from Greek and Latin…
Obviously, Bi-ology is the study of the central region of the Kinsey scale.
On the principle that a “meter” gives you an instantaneous reading while a “graph” gives you a list or a chart of readings over time, obviously “biography” is the study of charts with two columns.
@leerudolph, was it the communists living on the communes that made them do it or other previously unreported communists?
One of the natural compensations of living in our universe is that the arrogantly and willfully ignorant are always extremely eager to display their very high levels of Dunning Kruger to everyone else. Hence it isn’t even necessary to look for such professional fools because they self advertise so very well.
@13: “previously unreported communists” provoked something between a snort and a chuckle, mixed with a groan and served with wry on the side.
So…
what do geologists study?
So does this mean that antibiotics make people exist outside the binary?
They study George Hrab. Just him.
If I recall correctly, it is the hazy chapter in a memoir. I dunno it’s all Greek/Dutch to me.
And here I thought it was anything that made them say “Gee!”
geologists study the ground and not environmental changes or anything that pertains to climate. “Geo= g=gravity” it’s the study of things on the ground. The word “ground” means “g-round” indicating when things fall to the earth the earth becomes round in shape.
If “bi” means 2 (two), surely you’ve been doing the job of 2 scientists from the beginning. Seems to me you’re owed quite a bit of money from your employer, PZ. 😊
Oddly enough, in my very first biology lesson at age eleven, the teacher stated that the “bi” in “biology could be taken to mean that it’s composed of two disciplines, namely botany and zoology. It was years before I twigged that he was joking.
~laughing~
You all just made my morning. Thank you.
Archeology: the study of arks, of which there is only one; it landed on Mt Ararat
Astronomy: the study of buttocks
Philosophy: the study of TV hosts
Ecology: the study of small mammalian squeaks
Meteorology: the study of especially fleshy mouths
Physiology: the study of soft drinks
Cosmology: the study of Kramer
Nanotechnology: the study of how the elderly use smartphones
Good one Chrislawson!
@Chrislawson
Physics: what happens with too many fizzy drinks.
You know, I’ve met millions of amoeba that were INCELs.
Something about a lack of females being unappreciative or some other drivel.
Wait! INCEL crowd people have something in common with life, in one way, being kin to zero sex organisms and hence, rejected by any other organism.
I’ll get my coat…
A crippling blow to the LGDT community.