Last time, the Judge weighed in on an office kitchen dispute concerning coffee cups, following a series of domestic disputes involving shared finances, a husband’s precious car, unwanted weekend activities, and banning technology from the bedroom.
This week’s case is about formulated phrases and lots of fruit. Shall we put meaning to a mango?
I love language. I really do. I appreciate well-constructed sentences, correctly formulated phrases, accurate grammar, and using words according to their meaning. I am far from faultless, but I am always keen on improving my language skills.
So, to a certain extent, I get the purist’s approach towards language and, more specifically, towards the meaning of words.
As a banana is indeed a berry according to botany, I understand and even almost appreciate the fundamental attitude of Lottie towards not eating a banana when she requested a piece of fruit. If you have principles, stick to them.
I am sure that Lottie will not put tomatoes or cucumbers in a salad, when the person she is making it for requests vegetables only. She will know that tomatoes and cucumbers are in fact fruits, according to, again, the botanist’s definition.
However, two things about this case are more important to me than Lottie’s fanatic position on the classification of fruits versus berries.
One is that she should take herself a tad less serious. Otherwise, she becomes, as Francesca rightly points out, a nuisance. Some purists will keep defending their take on language and the meaning of words to such extremes that it progresses from being funny, to boring, to downright annoying and finally even hurting to interpersonal relationships. Just for the sake of making their point and winning the argument. That is more detrimental to their general enjoyment of life, than allowing their fellow human beings to be a little less detail crazed.
More importantly, I think Lottie’s stance is antique. Not in line with today’s world. Inclusion has become the most relevant theme in society. Inclusivity - and diversity officers are the new rage for jobs. The act of exclusion – of anything – is the worst thing one can do. It was never good, but it’s finally received the status that it deserves: that of sheer unacceptability.
In that respect, it is wholly distasteful to dismiss a banana, leave it lying on the side on one’s desk, just because it wasn’t referred to as a berry but as a fruit. In fact, Lottie, did you know that a berry, according to the botanical definition is a type of fruit? A subcategory, if you will. Therefore, a banana is fruit. However, in you view of the world, the banana is being ignored, because you don’t qualify it as a fruit.
Let’s translate this to humans, shall we? We could say that fruits are of the same order as human beings – both subcategories of all living things. Drop a level below that and you can identify different types of fruits, like berries, just as you can also differentiate types of human beings, such as men. We can then categorize the banana as a type of berry, just as we could categorize a trans man as a type of man.
What would happen, Lottie, if in an office all men are required to use the men’s room and all women (different category) are supposed to use the ladies’ room. Where does that leave the trans man, who might not be perceived by all as a man, just as you do not perceive your banana as a fruit? Where should he go? Oh wait, that is already a bit of a topic, isn’t it, Lottie?
Apart from it being too focused on an utterly nitty-gritty detail, I find that the classification issue of a banana is obsolete. Therefore, I rule that from now on, all edible and sweet products that grow in nature can be regarded as fruits and are therefore allowed for your snack time with your roommate. Henceforth, the banana shall identify as fruit.
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