this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
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[–] Skua@kbin.earth 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If it wasn't a rare and unusual occurrence they probably wouldn't be surprised by what the cat looks like

The tumblr blog here also does not appear to be the original source, it's a general cute animals one, so additional context may well have been removed

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org -2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"This time I remembered to take a picture of my grumpy cat after a bath."

"I honestly never noticed how grumpy my cat looks after bathing lol"

"My cat was exceptionally grumpy this time, lucky I remembered to take a picture."

Occam's razor says they regularly bathe their cat because in certain parts of the world that is what people do.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You assuming this person's habits is not the explanation that requires the fewest assumptions

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

it's actually funny just how many assumptions were just embedded into that "Occam's razor"

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org -3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] pyre@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

they regularly bathe their cat

some places of the world that's what they do

they're from one of those places

they've done this before but haven't realized how much the cat hates it

they've done this before but this time the cat hated it more

they've not only done this before but also have thought about taking a picture next time

they've forgotten to do it last time

this time they remembered because they, as we all know by now, have thought about it before

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

I was offering possible reasons why they'd take a picture now, despite the bathing possibly not being an unusual occurrence. Speculation.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, I honestly don't understand this sentence.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Occam's razor states that the most likely explanation for something is the one that requires the fewest assumptions. Your explanation - that the cat's owner regularly bathes the cat for no good reason - requires large assumptions about the owner that there is no evidence for. It is therefore not the answer that Occam's razor leads to

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org -2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It requires the assumption that the person has a cat and lives in a country where they commonly bathe cats.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is that fewer assumptions than "there was a good reason to wash the cat"?

You've also assumed that:

  • The actual original poster did not give any explanation on their post, wherever that was (since we know the tumblr blog is not the original)
  • That they would give an explanation if there was one (you have to assume this for not doing so to be meaningful evidence)
  • That they are acting surprised by the cat's appearance despite seeing it regularly
[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"There may be more information elsewhere" is always implied or we couldn't talk about anything at all ever.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The belief that there isn't more information despite knowing we don't have the original source is the assumption

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org -2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Okay. What are we talking about? I honestly don't care about the person in the OP, they may or may not be someone who bathes their cat regularly and I have nothing but this posting. How does this affect the fact that it's not the best idea to bathe cats unless there's a very good, specific reason?

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are you getting threads mixed up? The only thing I've been arguing is that there is no reason to think that the cat's owner does bathe the cat without a good cause

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

And I wasn't arguing against that, just that there are reasons to think the opposite as well.