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Trust your training (lemmy.world)
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[-] Signtist@lemm.ee 117 points 3 months ago

It was ruined for me when I was getting my masters in genetics and learned that "mitochondria" is plural, and the singular is "mitochondrion." So, it's either "the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" or "the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell," and neither feel right.

[-] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 42 points 3 months ago

I feel like the leading "the" is what's messing that up.

"Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" sounds fine to me.

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 months ago

*powerhouses might be better(it sounds better for me)

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 27 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I refer to one piece of broccoli as a ~~broccolus~~ broccolo.

[-] smeenz@lemmy.nz 16 points 3 months ago

Except its Italian, not Latin, so the singular is broccolo . If you want to use the Latin word,.it's broccus

[-] weker01@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago

I feel like Broccus would be a badass name for a dog.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I have one die which gives one datum at a time.

[-] Benjaben@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Why have you done this to us?!

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

A grammatical error in a translation from a foreign galactic basic to English is what ruined the force for you? Lol. If we can believe in defying gravity, I think we can believe "The iceburgs is the ship's fear."

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[-] trevdog@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I constantly struggle with what's proper and what sounds right when using Latin plural in English.

[-] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 91 points 3 months ago

It's mental how this is pretty much known worldwide, like drawing that S thing. The one similar to the Suzuki logo

[-] TheEntity@lemmy.world 39 points 3 months ago

As a non-native English speaker, I still have no idea why this specific phrase is so significant and at this point I'm afraid to ask.

[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 3 months ago

I was born in the 1970's and it is lost on me too, I think its something that became a thing to the generation after me

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 months ago

I think it comes from an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and exploded as a meme.

[-] fahfahfahfah@lemmy.billiam.net 36 points 3 months ago

It’s not from any specific media reference, it’s just essentially what every child was taught, verbatim, in grade school.

[-] wander1236@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 months ago
[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Huh, I figured it was Dexter's Lab or some cartoon.

[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 months ago

the meme originated from tumblr. the quote itself is older than color tv.

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago

Well 'meme' is an older idea than image macros =p

[-] xpinchx@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

I think it's just the most simplified you can get talking about cellular biology, specifically when teaching organelles. So most primary science textbooks use that terminology and it's more memorable than all the other organelles so it just stuck and it got repeated and reviewed every year and it sorta became a pre Internet meme and part of a shared consciousness if you were schooled in the US.

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 35 points 3 months ago

The S was known worldwide pre internet though. Was the powerhouse line?

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[-] JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world 40 points 3 months ago
[-] drosophila 38 points 3 months ago

What's interesting to me about that phrase is that no one uses the word "powerhouse" for anything else any more, except maybe to call something powerful.

Since it's not the 1920s any more and we have an electrical grid and centralized power generation. We still sometimes do use temporary off-grid generators, but we no longer have any need for a dedicated word that means "building or shed that we keep our generators in".

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 months ago
[-] drosophila 4 points 3 months ago

Yes, that's the word that everyone uses for the large generating stations that create power on a large scale like a manufacturing plant creates goods on a large scale.

Its rare for us to have "power houses" now, and when we do no one calls them that.

[-] Slovene@feddit.nl 3 points 3 months ago

Mitochondria is the solar farm of the cell.

[-] Trollception@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago

The power generating stations near me are still called Power houses.

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[-] BlursedTarot@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins

[-] fox2263@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago
[-] biscuit@lemdro.id 8 points 3 months ago

Damn, I haven't thought about that 90's Sabrina show since, well.. the 90's!

[-] snekmuffin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 months ago

Inertia is a property of matter

[-] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Why does everyone know this, but still think the definition of "metabolism" is solely built towards fake weight loss regiments? Bit of a tangent.

[-] truthfultemporarily@feddit.org 7 points 3 months ago

Its so ubiquitous that LLMs will always say it like that when it comes up.

[-] SeboBear@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 3 months ago

Same here in Germany - immediately came to my mind!

[-] CreatingMachines@fedia.io 5 points 3 months ago

the mitochondria is the energy center of the cell

this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
1543 points (100.0% liked)

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