this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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People normally feed ducks food like bread. The woman was used to this, so she was startled to see someone feeding ducks birdseed.
We're used to birdseed being used to feed songbirds or the various tree birds.
When the woman was directly informed that ducks are birds she was directly confronted with the knowledge that we put waterfowl in a different mental category than arboreal birds.
It's easy to imagine the feeling of realizing you've had a very basic, totally benign blindspot in how you conceptualize something as simple as ducks, and the woman's reaction captures that deep feeling of "now that you say it it's obvious" that a lot of people have felt. Knowing the feeling, it being slightly uncomfortable but harmless, and the general whimsy of ducks makes it funny.
It's funny because feeling empathy for silly mistakes makes us laugh.
Wow, this is an exemplary explanation. Being clear with several levels of cultural knowledge as well as the emotional load behind several meanings and juxtapositions, and still comes across with the humor unscathed.
I dream to one day attain such mastery.
Username checks out.
Respect for you taking the time to post this thoughtful praise in lieu of a gold badge. You may not yet be a ricecake, but you're getting there!
Fellow autist here, though I don't think I have adhd:
I was once where you are now.
It can be done.
Entirely unironically:
Believe in yourself, don't be too stubborn or proud, but also don't let the haters get you down, ... and as Johnny Cash once said, "know when to walk away, know when to run."
Your systematic analysis engaged my chuckle reaction. Thank you and have a good day
I'll be honest I personally assumed ducks only ate fish.
Wrong shaped beak for that, shovel instead of spear
Shovels work fine for itty-bitty fishies, since there's a lid to keep them from splashing out. Also water bugs as well as of course plants.
They work, but aren't they primarily for plants and bugs?
I'm not an expert duckist, so:
https://www.ducks.ca/stories/biodiversity/what-do-wild-ducks-eat/
Pelican.
How is this not a spear?
Even the shoebill stork has a pointy end
Less the long and narrow and more how it's used.
A fishing net is also long and narrow, but we usually wouldn't call it a spear because that's not how you use it. If you spear something with your net you've made a mistake.
Personally, I'd say a duck beak is "spoonish", and the fish hunters are "grabby". Some are tweezery, and some are tongy.
Spears are sharp.
"Duckweed" is named such because ducks like to eat it. I believe aquatic plants like that are a pretty big part of their diet.
Damn. Thank you so much!
And now folks, realize that this is true of every single thing that humans think about.
You put a duck and a sparrow side by side and maybe it seems obvious that, while not the same, these two things have something deeply in common. But most people have never considered them in one thought. When you get into abstract ideas like "freedom" or "socialism" is it any surprise that most people can't even recognize them, let alone agree on any commonalities?
You spend all day arranging dogs next to bears going "do you see how these are both canine-form mammals?" and the public is watching a tiktok while dismissing you going "Uh bears aren't pets, what a dumbass!"
Honestly it's more relevant to classify them by beak shape. Birds are 100% based on their beak shape, because that determines what they can and can't eat.