this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
266 points (97.5% liked)

Science Memes

19630 readers
2000 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

My objection to "dwarf planet" is purely a linguistically aesthetic one.

"Dwarf planet" ≠ planet

...implies...

"Dwarf person" ≠ person

...and I feel like the people under 4'10" (147 cm) would object to that distinction.

Also, "planetoid" was a perfectly cromulent word which Star Trek had been using for decades already.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Different meanings. "Dwarf person" = a person with dwarfism, but "dwarf planet" ≠ a planet with dwarfism.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

There are plenty of linguistically unintuitive artifacts kicking around (a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut, a jellyfish is not a fish, all of the "berries" which aren't berries), but if we're deliberately creating brand new labels in the 21st century, it might have been nice if we'd avoided that kind of oddness, given the opportunity.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works -1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

It's kind of a leap to hear "dwarf planet" and think that it's denigrating people with dwarfism in any way.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 0 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

It's not a direct connection, but trying to say a dwarf planet isn't a planet, when it's got the word planet right there, is generating the kind of semantic confusion that, carried forward, would lead to the conclusion that people with dwarfism aren't people. The -oid suffix already conveys "is almost the thing, but not quite," such as in words like humanoid, asteroid, android, and (most importantly) the aforementioned planetoid. Making planetoid the official word for "is in ways like a planet but actually isn't" would have been working with existing etymology, rather than creating needless confusion.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago

I'd certainly support not using "dwarf" in the names of celestial bodies any more, although it would make the Red Dwarf's name anachronistic.

[–] RamenJunkie@midwest.social 1 points 18 hours ago

Did you test Pluto to make sure its not just a regularplanet with dwarfism?