Misnomers

TL;DR

Singapore’s “Lion City” name is tied to a reported mistaken identification of a tiger as a lion, despite claims that lions never naturally lived there.

Briefing Cornell Notes

Briefing

Names don’t just label reality—they often mislead it. From baby-name rankings to place names and everyday labels, “misnomers” show how language can fossilize mistakes, old beliefs, and convenient assumptions long after the facts change.

A quick example comes from Singapore: the country’s name is commonly tied to “Lion City,” yet evidence suggests lions never naturally lived there. The story traces back to 1299, when Sang Nila Utama allegedly mistook a tiger for a lion. The name stuck even though the animal didn’t. That same gap between label and truth appears in the origins of “orange.” The fruit’s name didn’t come first; the tree did. The word “orange” derives from Sanskrit for the tree the fruit grows on. English later used “yellow-red” for the color, and the first recorded use of “orange” for the color dates to 1512—meaning the color was named after the fruit, which was named after the tree.

The transcript then widens the lens from etymology to classification. In botany, “fruit” is defined by seed-bearing parts of flowering plants—so apples, oranges, lemons, and grapes qualify, while many things treated as vegetables in cooking do too. Corn kernels are fruits, which makes corn on the cob a bundle of fruits. Mushrooms complicate the culinary label further: they aren’t vegetables at all because they’re fungi, not plants. Even “vegetable” is a cooking term, not a scientific one.

Another source of misnaming is Stigler’s Law: discoveries and inventions often get credited to the wrong person. Venn diagrams are named for John Venn even though Leonhard Euler introduced them earlier. Avogadro’s Constant is tied to Avogadro, but the exact value was determined by someone else. The same pattern shows up in everyday language: French horns aren’t French; the “funny bone” isn’t a bone but the ulnar nerve; Big Ben is actually the nickname for the bell and then extended to the tower, whose official name is The Elizabeth Tower; and kosher salt isn’t kosher by nature—it’s used to make meat kosher.

The list of misnomers keeps going—Arabic numerals aren’t Arabic, peanuts aren’t nuts, coconuts aren’t nuts, and Greenland isn’t green—each tied to historical naming habits, migration, or deliberate wordplay. Even design and identity get folded into the theme. Skeuomorphs are modern ornamental features that once served a practical purpose, like phone icons shaped like older devices or camera sounds mimicking mechanical shutters. A person’s name is framed as a kind of skeuomorph too: it’s assigned at birth before anyone knows who the person will become.

That idea culminates in a philosophical twist about identity over time. Human bodies and even atoms are replaced on cycles, and memories fade and change. Robert M. Martin’s perspective suggests the future “you” will be only loosely connected to the present you—so the fear of death may be less rational than it feels. The transcript ends by reframing “YOLO” as living through many technically different versions of a person, connected in one direction and helping in the other.

Cornell Notes

Misnomers reveal how names often lag behind reality—whether due to mistaken observations, old language rules, or crediting the wrong people. Singapore’s “Lion City” name persists despite claims that lions never naturally lived there, and “orange” traces back to the tree’s Sanskrit name, with the color term arriving centuries later. Botanical definitions clash with culinary ones: corn kernels are fruits, and mushrooms aren’t vegetables at all. Stigler’s Law explains why some terms honor the wrong discoverer, as with Venn diagrams and Avogadro’s Constant. The discussion broadens into identity, treating a name like a skeuomorph and arguing that the “future you” is only loosely connected to the present you.

Why does “Singapore” count as a misnomer in this discussion?

The transcript links “Singapore” to “Lion City,” but notes beliefs that lions never naturally lived there. It attributes the name to a 1299 moment when Sang Nila Utama supposedly mistook a tiger for a lion—an error that became a permanent label.

How does the origin of the word “orange” illustrate a name lagging behind reality?

The word “orange” is said to come from Sanskrit for the tree that bears the fruit. English supposedly used “yellow-red” for the color before “orange” was used for it, with the first recorded color usage in 1512. So the chain runs: tree → fruit name → later color name.

What’s the difference between “fruit” and “vegetable” in the transcript’s botanical vs. culinary framing?

Botanically, a fruit is a seed-dispersing part of a flowering plant. In cooking, “vegetable” is a culinary category for edible plant parts that aren’t sweet—like roots or leaves. The transcript gives corn as an example: corn kernels are fruits, so corn on the cob is “fruits packed together.” Mushrooms are also used to show the mismatch: they aren’t vegetables because they’re fungi, not plants.

How does Stigler’s Law connect to misnomers beyond everyday labels?

Stigler’s Law is described as the tendency to name things not after the true discoverer or originator, but to honor someone else. The transcript cites Venn diagrams being named for John Venn even though Leonhard Euler introduced them earlier, and Avogadro’s Constant being associated with Avogadro despite someone else determining the exact figure.

What are skeuomorphs, and how does the transcript extend the concept to personal names?

Skeuomorphs are design elements that are now mostly ornamental but once had a purpose—like phone icons shaped like older phones or email icons shaped like envelopes, and camera sounds that mimic mechanical shutters. The transcript then calls a person’s name a kind of skeuomorph: it’s given at birth before anyone knows who the person will become, even though the person changes while the name stays.

What does Robert M. Martin’s quote add to the misnomer theme?

Robert M. Martin’s framing suggests the future person who shares a name will be only tenuously connected to the present self: fewer shared memories, psychological differences, and mostly different matter. The transcript uses this to argue that fear of death may be misplaced because the “you” that dies resembles today’s you only slightly—more like a stranger than a continuation.

Review Questions

Pick one misnomer from the transcript (place name, fruit/color, anatomy, or science credit). What specific historical mechanism caused the mismatch?
Explain how botanical definitions overturn a common kitchen category using the corn or mushroom example.
How does the skeuomorph idea connect to the claim that identity changes over time? Use the name-at-birth analogy.

Key Points

1
Singapore’s “Lion City” name is tied to a reported mistaken identification of a tiger as a lion, despite claims that lions never naturally lived there.
2
The word “orange” traces to the tree’s Sanskrit name; the color term “orange” entered English much later than the fruit’s name.
3
Botanical “fruit” is seed-bearing plant tissue, which means some foods treated as vegetables—like corn kernels—are scientifically fruits.
4
Culinary labels can conflict with biology: mushrooms aren’t vegetables because they’re fungi, not plants.
5
Stigler’s Law helps explain why some terms credit the wrong people, such as Venn diagrams and Avogadro’s Constant.
6
Many everyday misnomers persist because nicknames and historical naming conventions outlast the original facts.
7
A person’s name is framed as a skeuomorph given at birth, while the self changes so much that the “future you” may be only loosely connected to the present you.

Highlights

The transcript’s “orange” timeline runs backward from the color: the tree’s name came first, then the fruit, and only later did English start calling the color “orange” (first recorded in 1512).

Singapore’s “Lion City” label is presented as a linguistic fossil of a 1299 misidentification—tiger mistaken for lion—despite doubts about lions ever living there.

Corn on the cob is described as a bundle of fruits because corn kernels are fruits botanically, even though cooking treats them like vegetables.

Stigler’s Law is used to show how naming often honors the wrong originator, with Venn diagrams and Avogadro’s Constant as examples.

The discussion ends by treating identity as a series of changing selves, using Robert M. Martin’s argument that the future “you” will share only a tenuous connection to the present you.

Topics

Misnomers
Etymology
Botany vs. Cooking
Stigler’s Law
Skeuomorphs
Identity Over Time

Mentioned

Michael
John Venn
Leonhard Euler
Avogadro
Robert M. Martin
Sang Nila Utama
Erik the Red
Edmund Hayley