this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
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What would you expect from a seahorse though, am I right?

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[–] [email protected] 102 points 2 months ago (15 children)

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys. How’s the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"

— David Foster Wallace, This is Water

[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 months ago (6 children)

That joke works until you realize we're perfectly aware of the existence of air.

[–] 5765313496 80 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Yeah, but would you be aware if you hadn't learned about it in school?

Oh wait. Fish spend lots of time in school. Dang.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

There are lots of effects you cannot explain without air. Even if you haven't been to school, you can observe wind, use a hairdryer, blow up balloons, fly a drone etc.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And "air" as a word dates back to both Latin and Greek "aer", probably from proto-Indo-European "awer" so it's pretty much been the same word in European since civilization was a thing.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

in European

Oh yes, my favourite language. It's "vzduch" or similar in most Slavic languages, and I'd bet you're not pronouncing it right.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I meant "parts of Europe" but my fingers didn't catch up with my brain

[–] Landless2029 4 points 2 months ago

I vaguely recall reading about people not knowing the science of wind and air. They explain trees swaying in the wind as spirits.

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