TIL

TIL or Today I Learned...

One of the more interesting series of threads on Reddit and other social media is TIL or Today I learned.  It presents stories of new and surprising information that people recently learned.  

Sometimes it can be interesting or minute trivia.  Like learning that Alexandre Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Cristo, was mixed race.  Or that the actual Mulberry bush that the nursery rhyme "Here we go round the Mulberry bush" was named after died in 2017 and was completely cut down in 2019.

For instance, today I learned that depending on how you define the DFW Metroplex, the Metroplex has a greater population than 32-38 states.

Other times, these threads can reflect when the writer learned very basic information that surprised them and seemed to contradict what they had heard and believed for a long time.

Like when we learned what all is considered a fruit from Be Our Chef on Disney+.

Now, I knew tomatoes and avocados were fruit.  But I was genuinely surprised by the following:

Cucumbers

Bell Peppers

Eggplant

Squash

Likewise, in researching and confirming this, I was very surprised to learn that broccoli and cauliflower are technically edible flowers.

It comes down to another series of complications of the English language.  We have culinary vegetables, botanical vegetables, and legal vegetables.  For example, tomatoes are botanically a berry and thus a fruit, but legally and culinarily a vegetable.

So, in short, TIL the things we eat with seeds, despite our culinary preferences in labelling, are technically and botanically fruits.

Something I likely already learned and forgotten, but surprising nonetheless.

What's your TIL story?  What information did you recently come across that was surprising or shocking to you?