this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] janNatan@lemmy.ml 86 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] skeezix@lemmy.world 1 points 30 minutes ago* (last edited 30 minutes ago)

spermaceti was named after the italian pasta shape; a folded durham wheat shell with a tail.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 43 points 5 hours ago (3 children)
[–] joelfromaus@aussie.zone 2 points 1 hour ago

Would explain some of the decisions I’ve made over the years.

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 3 hours ago

Only during transit.

[–] pootzapie@lemy.lol 3 points 3 hours ago

Actual lol, tysm and happy holidays

[–] SillyDude@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 hours ago

I wonder if they were either disappointed or relieved when they found out it wasn't cum.