• Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
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    1 year ago

    I’m pretty sure he didn’t discover it, what with people having lived there for tens of thousands of years.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I discovered a new restaurant last week. It’s been around for decades but it was new to me. I can’t remember the first time I tasted a tomato or potato, but to the Europeans it must have been amazing! And don’t forget chocolate!

      You are correct about the thriving and ancient civilizations in the “New World” of course. Getting olives and oranges and figs, even horses, doesn’t feel like enough compensation for what happened to them…

    • lugal
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      1 year ago

      I never got this semitic discussion. I can discover a cabin in a forest or a store in a city but Columbus can’t discover a continent because he wasn’t the first one who discovered it?

      • saltesc@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        As far as I care, “discovered” is in relation to cartography, at which point most societies know of it and its location.

        Anything else is just pathetic semantics that could go back through evolution and the chronology of Earth’s continents and geography. No one wants that except a couple of Actually Guys.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
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          1 year ago

          As far as I care, “discovered” is in relation to cartography, at which point most societies know of it and its location.

          Well then you can’t go with Columbus. Basically no one in Asia or Africa knew what he did, let alone both of the Americas and Australia. So unless you define Europe as the only place with societies, Columbus doesn’t even come close.

          • lugal
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            1 year ago

            most societies

            I would change this to “a society” so Columbus discovered America for the European society while other societies already knew it or still didn’t

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        This would have more merit if he ever set foot in North America. He landed in the Bahamas. It’s technically part of the North American tectonic plate, but so is part of Iceland.

        • lugal
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          1 year ago

          Because America is only North America?

            • lugal
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              1 year ago

              And there is no causal relation between the discovery of these

              Edit: Also: the meme is about potatoes and tomatoes which come from around central America. They aren’t USA exports. The meme is about the discovery of America as in the Americas

              • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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                1 year ago

                And it doesn’t matter, because what is up for dispute is what people mean when they say America. Which is North America, regardless of the actual facts. That’s what colloquial means

                Pay attention to what is actually being discussed before running your mouth to make yourself sound smart.

                • lugal
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                  1 year ago

                  Context matters. When it’s about the discovery of America, it’s the double continent since north and south America were not discovered separately. They are one landmass

                  Edit: Also you were the one saying “actually America is Nort America so Columbus didn’t discover the real America”. Think about the context before trying to sound smart

                  • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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                    1 year ago

                    Not in the real world where U.S.-centric dumbasses live in their own reality and force everyone else to go along with it with guns and nukes.

                    You and I both know the term America applies to both continents, but to the NPCs, it doesn’t. That’s literally what colloquialism is – what NPCs say, and that is what was up for dispute. Not the actual facts of the matter.

                    Edit: Also you were the one saying “actually America is Nort America so Columbus didn’t discover the real America”. Think about the context before trying to sound smart

                    No, no, you’re clearly confusing me with the other guy because you are angry I called you out on trying and failing to sound smart. Breathe in through your nose, hold 4 seconds, breathe out with your mouth, and read the screen names again.

    • LoboAureo@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The gravity was there from the beginning of time, but Newton discovered it.

      English is not my first language but as long as you specify for who, you can use discover, like "I discovered this movie last year, it’s my new favorite movie since then’ and the movie was published 40 years ago.