• Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    4 hours ago

    it’s called “kaskelothval” in danish

    kastelot supposedly means “oil-filled head”

    that oil is called “spermaceti oil”. And supposedly is kinda sticky… like sperm

    • Lemminary@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 hours ago

      In Spanish it’s called “cacholote”. I wonder if it’s related because it’s such an odd word since other whales are called “ballenas”.

  • Zerush@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    4 hours ago

    I’m interested of the reason to call an prehistoric elephant Tit tooth (Mastodon)

    • RattlerSix@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      12 hours ago

      Wikipedia sez

      The name “sperm whale” is a clipping of “spermaceti whale”. Spermaceti, originally mistakenly identified as the whales’ semen, is the semi-liquid, waxy substance found within the whale’s head.

  • janNatan@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    136
    ·
    19 hours ago

    It’s short for spermaceti whale.

    Spermaceti is the name of the oil they produce for buoyancy/echolocation. Why is it called that? Because it was originally thought to be whale semen. Yes, really.

    • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      46
      ·
      19 hours ago

      “Okay, we need a name for this one, too.”

      “Bushtit.”

      [Sigh] “Fine. And this one?”

      [Snickering] “Blue footed booby.”

      “Ugh, but why?.”

      “It’s got blue feet.”

      “Whatever. How about this one?”

      “Titmouse.”

      “I think I’m starting to see a pattern here. Is everything okay at home?”

      [Bursts into tears] “No! Not since this one.” [Hands other person a photo] “I call that one ‘horrible shrew that ruined my life!’” [Sobbing]

      [Other person holding the photo of the ex-partner]

  • neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    16 hours ago

    Just gonna leave this here…

    As I sat there at my ease, cross-legged on the deck; after the bitter exertion at the windlass; under a blue tranquil sky; the ship under indolent sail, and gliding so serenely along; as I bathed my hands among those soft, gentle globules of infiltrated tissues, wove almost within the hour; as they richly broke to my fingers, and discharged all their opulence, like fully ripe grapes their wine; as. I snuffed up that uncontaminated aroma,- literally and truly, like the smell of spring violets; I declare to you, that for the time I lived as in a musky meadow; I forgot all about our horrible oath; in that inexpressible sperm, I washed my hands and my heart of it; I almost began to credit the old Paracelsan superstition that sperm is of rare virtue in allaying the heat of anger; while bathing in that bath, I felt divinely free from all ill-will, or petulance, or malice, of any sort whatsoever.

    Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers’ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,- Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.

    Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever! For now, since by many prolonged, repeated experiences, I have perceived that in all cases man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fire-side; the country; now that I have perceived all this, I am ready to squeeze case eternally. In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti.

      • EpeeGnome@feddit.online
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        15 hours ago

        I can’t see the thumbnail, but I could already hear the Ryan George character in my head just from reading the image text, so when I saw a youtube link I assumed it had to be one of those skits.