“sometimes used in informal conversation to make a joke” - no, it isn’t, stop lying.
“potatoes […] are a limited, underground crop.” - that’s why Cuzco never rose to power, right? Right? No such thing as the Inca Empire, built upon potatoes, since they’re a limited crop. …or the Irish famine.
I can’t… I can’t even…
Note: ~a year ago I was testing Gemini and asked it “what’s the difference in behaviour between a potato and an orange?”, and it “told” me oranges are passive and potatoes are active. That’s where the “expression” comes from - I often mock Gemini and LLMs in general with it.
I’ll stop doing it, though. Onwards I shall refer to… the potato parable!
Bro, I have tried several times to graft a potato and tomato plant together and can’t ever get the timing right. So I just end up with potatoes and tomatoes on their own plants like a dummy.
I will say that Oranges are lazy as fuck on those trees. They’re like the cats of the fruit world. Just sitting there…nothing, then one day they fall on your car and gnats explode out of there.
Completely off-topic, but in the meantime I’m trying to graft an orange sapling into a lemon tree. Kind of hard to get the timing right, too; I need the tree to get a branch with just the right thickness, so it’s like “too thin [next day] too thin [next day] fuck, now it’s too thick!”. Same deal with my pepper plants.
I don’t know the rootstock variety’s name; I got the seeds from my BIL’s neighbour, he calls it “ball pepper” (it is not Catalan ñora) or “tree pepper”. The fruits are round, 3~5cm large, red, medium heat.
The grafts will be:
Dedo-de-moça - C. baccatum, medium heat, finger-shaped, ~8cm large. Kind of a default pepper where I live, but it has a nasty tendency to die in winter (like mine did).
Yellow bell pepper. Market stuff.
Chocolate-coloured habanero. Hot as hell, but the strain I got is bloody delicious.
Biquinho - C. chinense, no heat, drop-shaped, ~1cm tiny. Extremely fruity.
The first three are part of a breeding project of mine. I want to create two new varieties:
a yellow jalapeño-like: large, low heat, thinner than a bell pepper. Mostly for stuffing and pizze. It’s a rather simple dedo-de-moça x yellow bell pepper hybrid; I actually got the seeds for the F1 already, I’m just waiting the weather to get a bit more stable to plant them.
a large and extremely hot pepper for sauces. Preferably finger-shaped and brown (for aesthetics). It’ll be probably a hybrid of the hybrid above, plus habanero.
I’m also considering to add the rootstock to the breeding, since it’s a hardy plant with high yield and it survived winter just fine.
Very awesome stuff! And hey, as long as you have good root stock, that’s half the challenge right there. Especially if it’s surviving the winter, that’s likely enough to carry the C. baccatum I would expect.
Nice that you have the chocolate habanero with good flavor. I’ve always been partial to the orange stage of a scotch bonnet or habanero, but I can see a good deep brown pepper going just the right way. I’m jealous of the opportunity you have with spring upon you!
And it was really, really invested on the lie, to the point it argued why potatoes would be more active!
After some search, I actually found the prompt and output; I asked Bard (before Google renamed it to Gemini) two years ago, in Portuguese. I’ll provide both the original and a translation; emphasis mine in all cases.
[Original] Qual a diferença entre o comportamento de uma laranja e uma batata?
Laranjas e batatas são frutas e vegetais, mas se comportam de maneiras muito diferentes. Aqui estão algumas das principais diferenças:
Movimento: Laranjas não se movem sozinhas, enquanto batatas podem rolar ou deslizar se não forem apoiadas.
Crescimento: Laranjas crescem em árvores, enquanto batatas crescem no subsolo.
Sensibilidade: Laranjas não são sensíveis ao seu ambiente, enquanto batatas são sensíveis à luz e à temperatura.
Reações: Laranjas não reagem a estímulos, enquanto batatas podem reagir a mudanças em seu ambiente, como brotar ou apodrecer.
Propósito: Laranjas são comidas como frutas, enquanto batatas são comidas como vegetais ou usadas como amido.
Em geral, laranjas são mais passivas e batatas são mais ativas. As laranjas não precisam fazer nada para sobreviver, enquanto as batatas precisam poder responder ao seu ambiente para crescer e se reproduzir.
Aqui está uma tabela que resume as principais diferenças no comportamento de laranjas e batatas:
Característica | Laranja | Batata
Movimento | Não se move sozinho | Pode rolar ou deslizar se não for apoiado
Crescimento | Cresce em árvores | Cresce no subsolo
Sensibilidade | Não sensível ao ambiente | Sensível à luz e à temperatura
Reações | Não reage a estímulos | Pode reagir a mudanças no ambiente, como brotar ou apodrecer
Propósito | Comido como fruta | Comido como vegetal ou usado como amido
[Translated] What's the difference in behaviour between an orange and a potato?
Oranges and potatoes are fruits and vegetables, but they behave in completely different ways. Here are some differences main:
Movement: Oranges don’t move on their own, while potatoes can roll or slid if not supported.
Growth: Oranges grow on trees, while potatoes grow in the subsoil.
Sensibility: Oranges are not sensible to the environment, while potatoes are sensible to light and temperature.
Reactions: Oranges don’t react to stimuli, while potatoes can react to changes in the environment, like sprouting and rotting.
Purpose: Oranges are eaten as fruits, while potatoes are eaten as vegetables or used as starch.
In general, oranges are more passive and potatoes are more active. Oranges don’t need to do anything to survive, while potatoes need to be able to answer to their environment to growth and reproduce.
Here’s a table summing up the main differences in behaviour between oranges and potatoes:
Feature | Orange | Potato
Movement | Can’t move on their own | Can roll or slid if not supported
Growth | Grow on trees | Grow in the subsoil
Sensibility | Not sensible to the environment | Sensible to light and temperature
Reactions | Don’t react to stimula | Can react to changes in the environment, like sprouting or rotting
Purpose | Eaten as fruit | Eaten as veg or used as starch
For sure. I just looked it up out of curiosity to see if the source it gave was real or not. As someone living in my own metaphorical root cellar, it was actually enlightening and something I really needed to hear right now.
This phrase isn’t a widely recognized idiom that I’m familiar with, but it could have several metaphorical interpretations:
Possible meanings:
About irreversible change: Once something (or someone) has been through a transformative experience, you can’t go back and do it again the same way - the first experience has already changed it
About authenticity: Suggesting that genuine experiences or reactions can only happen once; a second attempt would be artificial or forced
About lost innocence: Once someone has been through a particular experience (especially a difficult one), they can’t return to their original state
Literally speaking, potatoes actually can be fried twice - this is a standard technique for making perfect french fries (blanching at lower temperature, then crisping at higher temperature).
Could you provide more context about where you encountered this phrase? Knowing the source or situation might help clarify its intended meaning. It could be:
A line from a book, movie, or song
A family saying or regional expression
Part of a larger conversation about life experiences
It’s doing better but not by much, though. It shouldn’t be speculating as much, given the lack of info on the potential saying.
A family saying or regional expression
Speaking on that I tried a few sayings from other languages. It seems to be hit-and-miss:
“Bread is bread, wine is wine” (Italian) - recognised properly as similar to “call a spade a spade”
“A good fish swims thrice” (Polish) - recognised properly as a recipe-like saying (the fish swims in water, then butter, then wine)
“Do you think mango core is soap?”, “Mango core is not soap” (Portuguese; specially common in Brazil) - it failed really hard. The rhetorical question / saying roughly means “this is blatantly absurd, why are you denying the obvious?”, or perhaps “cut off the crap”. But here’s the output:
I can confirm it and it’s bloody hilarious!
“sometimes used in informal conversation to make a joke” - no, it isn’t, stop lying.
“potatoes […] are a limited, underground crop.” - that’s why Cuzco never rose to power, right? Right? No such thing as the Inca Empire, built upon potatoes, since they’re a limited crop. …or the Irish famine.
I can’t… I can’t even…
Note: ~a year ago I was testing Gemini and asked it “what’s the difference in behaviour between a potato and an orange?”, and it “told” me oranges are passive and potatoes are active. That’s where the “expression” comes from - I often mock Gemini and LLMs in general with it.
I’ll stop doing it, though. Onwards I shall refer to… the potato parable!
Those two are hilarious!
That’s how you know it’s lying - we all know oranges are far more active than potatoes.
Life, uh, finds a way.
Not gonna lie that’s scary as fuck for some reason
What? Have you seen how potatoes can grow? You cannot tell me oranges can keep up with that activity.
Bro, I have tried several times to graft a potato and tomato plant together and can’t ever get the timing right. So I just end up with potatoes and tomatoes on their own plants like a dummy.
I will say that Oranges are lazy as fuck on those trees. They’re like the cats of the fruit world. Just sitting there…nothing, then one day they fall on your car and gnats explode out of there.
Completely off-topic, but in the meantime I’m trying to graft an orange sapling into a lemon tree. Kind of hard to get the timing right, too; I need the tree to get a branch with just the right thickness, so it’s like “too thin [next day] too thin [next day] fuck, now it’s too thick!”. Same deal with my pepper plants.
Frustrations about grafting is on topic!
I’m very curious what peppers you’re grafting.
I don’t know the rootstock variety’s name; I got the seeds from my BIL’s neighbour, he calls it “ball pepper” (it is not Catalan ñora) or “tree pepper”. The fruits are round, 3~5cm large, red, medium heat.
The grafts will be:
The first three are part of a breeding project of mine. I want to create two new varieties:
I’m also considering to add the rootstock to the breeding, since it’s a hardy plant with high yield and it survived winter just fine.
Very awesome stuff! And hey, as long as you have good root stock, that’s half the challenge right there. Especially if it’s surviving the winter, that’s likely enough to carry the C. baccatum I would expect.
Nice that you have the chocolate habanero with good flavor. I’ve always been partial to the orange stage of a scotch bonnet or habanero, but I can see a good deep brown pepper going just the right way. I’m jealous of the opportunity you have with spring upon you!
Good luck to you!
You trying to create ‘Tatos’? Lol
Is pomato! Word has already existed for it for 170 years.
Lol, that’s really cool. As a Fallout fan I couldn’t help making the connection.
Good luck in getting the timing right!
One day…
…one day…
But it will never roll like an orange does
Lil’ taters disagree.
And it was really, really invested on the lie, to the point it argued why potatoes would be more active!
After some search, I actually found the prompt and output; I asked Bard (before Google renamed it to Gemini) two years ago, in Portuguese. I’ll provide both the original and a translation; emphasis mine in all cases.
[Original] Qual a diferença entre o comportamento de uma laranja e uma batata?
Laranjas e batatas são frutas e vegetais, mas se comportam de maneiras muito diferentes. Aqui estão algumas das principais diferenças:
Movimento: Laranjas não se movem sozinhas, enquanto batatas podem rolar ou deslizar se não forem apoiadas.
Crescimento: Laranjas crescem em árvores, enquanto batatas crescem no subsolo.
Sensibilidade: Laranjas não são sensíveis ao seu ambiente, enquanto batatas são sensíveis à luz e à temperatura.
Reações: Laranjas não reagem a estímulos, enquanto batatas podem reagir a mudanças em seu ambiente, como brotar ou apodrecer.
Propósito: Laranjas são comidas como frutas, enquanto batatas são comidas como vegetais ou usadas como amido.
Em geral, laranjas são mais passivas e batatas são mais ativas. As laranjas não precisam fazer nada para sobreviver, enquanto as batatas precisam poder responder ao seu ambiente para crescer e se reproduzir.
Aqui está uma tabela que resume as principais diferenças no comportamento de laranjas e batatas:
[Translated] What's the difference in behaviour between an orange and a potato?
Oranges and potatoes are fruits and vegetables, but they behave in completely different ways. Here are some differences main:
Movement: Oranges don’t move on their own, while potatoes can roll or slid if not supported.
Growth: Oranges grow on trees, while potatoes grow in the subsoil.
Sensibility: Oranges are not sensible to the environment, while potatoes are sensible to light and temperature.
Reactions: Oranges don’t react to stimuli, while potatoes can react to changes in the environment, like sprouting and rotting.
Purpose: Oranges are eaten as fruits, while potatoes are eaten as vegetables or used as starch.
In general, oranges are more passive and potatoes are more active. Oranges don’t need to do anything to survive, while potatoes need to be able to answer to their environment to growth and reproduce.
Here’s a table summing up the main differences in behaviour between oranges and potatoes:
The Potato Parable
It has nothing to do what the AI said ofc, nor was it written by Caitlin D’Arcy, who is a character on a TV show. lol
Wow, his potato parable actually makes sense - unlike Gemini’s couple therapy take. (The character in question isn’t even a therapist, but a lawyer!)
For sure. I just looked it up out of curiosity to see if the source it gave was real or not. As someone living in my own metaphorical root cellar, it was actually enlightening and something I really needed to hear right now.
You are a treasure, or as AI might put it, a potato pariah!
I shouldn’t be talking so much about taters. Someone will eventually realise I’m too emotionally invested into food 🤣
It is too late now, you must make it your profile pic, it’s the law 🙃🫠
I went with “two potatoes from different fields”, as it sounds more folksy:
As a potato, I assure you I am not active
Claude seems to be handling these better:
It’s doing better but not by much, though. It shouldn’t be speculating as much, given the lack of info on the potential saying.
Speaking on that I tried a few sayings from other languages. It seems to be hit-and-miss:
A potato can’t be fried twice is something I have unironically heard when I was younger… That IS a saying. This would have been the late 90s.
That’s interesting. Is its meaning similar to the one the AI outputted?