On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 07:53:43 UTC, Tim Tyler opined:

Stan Goodman wrote or quoted:
On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 19:56:15 UTC, Tim Tyler opined:
Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote or quoted:

Technically speaking, what is the difference between a
fruit and a vegetable?

Dunno if it's very technical - but:

``Definition of fruit and vegetable''

- http://www.comevisit.com/chuckali/definition/

But it's incorrect, because it confuses botanical and culinary definitions:

Obviously, these are not botanical definitions.

Why is it difficult to understand that a vegetable is something that is
neither animal nor mineral [...]


I'm not sure how to understand your answers below, so (at the risk of being
accused of not having a sense of humor, I do it straight:

Because of mushrooms and bacteria ;-)

Mushrooms are certainly vegetables: they are life, so they aren't mineral;
they aren't animal. What's left? With microorganisms, it's my understanding
that the line between vegetable and not-vegetable is unclear, but I don't
think that's what we are talking about. The fact is that I have no clue what
that comment is talking about.

and a fruit is a specific part of a flowering plant that contains the
seed(s)?

Because of beans, strawberries and cashew apples ;-)

Beans, strawberries, and cashews are all flowering plants. Again, I have no
idea whatever what you mean. "Flowering plant" is a botanical category. It
has nothing to do with whether a flower is prominent or nearly invisible, or
whether it is important in the florist trade. Mushrooms and bacteria, for
example, are NOT flowering plants.

The definition is really so simple that one is tempted to wonder why people
want to complicate it, and why they think complication is a key to
clarification.


--
Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel


Saddam is gone. Ceterum, censeo Arafat esse delendam.