this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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[–] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

I know the struggle

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Helps if you pronounce it "yoo rainus" instead of "yer anus". We should change it to something sensible like Urectum.

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm afraid renaming won't happen until 2620.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Only if you believe the prophecies that fell through the time hole.

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

I have no reason not to.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago
[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

NASA - National Anal Science Agency

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

NASA - National Anal ~~Science~~ Sex Agency

FTFY

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh, thank you kindly stranger! I don't know what I was thinking..

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

To be fair, proper anal can be as much a science as it is a fine art. 😁

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You spelled fine fart wrong. 😂👍

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] 5parky@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago
[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (12 children)

Uranus is such a stupid name. The proper name for the world is Caelus. All the other planets use the Roman names of the gods. But for some reason, we decided to go with the Greek name in the one case that would obviously cause problems. The only reason "Uranus" and "anus" sound similar is that they have different roots. "Anus" comes from the Latin, while Uranus is Greek. The ancient Greeks didn't have this problem, as they only had the word for the deity. The Romans didn't have this problem, as they named their god Caelus. But for some asinine reason, we insist on calling the Seventh Planet Uranus instead of its proper Caelus.

We should rename it. I don't care if scientists at the time of its discovery preferred Uranus. We're allowed to move to more sensible names. We shouldn't be stuck with this forever. In fact, Herschel, the original discoverer, wanted to name it George. Bode came up with the name Uranus, apparently unaware of the Latin/Greek mismatch.

It's high time we give the Seventh World in our star system the proper respect it is due. The seventh planet is Caelus, not this ridiculous Uranus. We can do better.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 points 21 minutes ago

I reject your foundational assertion that this is a problem.

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hhahahha I was about to post that

[–] MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

Caelus does sound like a cooler name, but I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to forget this name by tomorrow.

[–] lastunusedusername2@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day ago

"Planet George's Anus."

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This was also my takeaway from this rant. Hi George!

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Rant? Oh don't get me started on how we're dropping the ball on the naming of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. This is by far the largest object in the entire galaxy. The center of centers. The pit at the bottom of the world. The bottomless pit that pulled the whole galaxy together. The monster of monsters. The terror of terrors. The thunder upon the deep. The ravenous maw that devours entire Suns. And what name do we call it? What ancient monster or demon do we invoke to give voice to the howling terror around which the galaxy revolves? None. We call the bloody thing Sagittarius A*.

Yes, that's it. That's as good as astronomers can do right now apparently. How could you call such an unholy terror a name that's more appropriate to an IRS accounting file? How could you use such a mundane name when Charybdis is right there! Or Scylla works too!

Like JFC. Where's the sense of romance? Where's the passion and the fire? We're talking an object with the mass of three million Suns. It has a whole retinue or stars that orbit around it, and it throws them around like playthings. The Earth and the Sun already dwarf humanity to cosmic minutia, and this monster does the same to them. It's a monster lurking in the depths of space. And the best we can do to name it is fucking Sagittarius A*. The thing is a literal cosmic monster, something right out of mythology.

Like, I'm not even some Eurocentric who thinks everything needs to be named after Roman or Greek sources. I like keeping the planets specifically Roman for consistency. But there are no shortage of wonderful names out there coming from other mythologies. Laniakea is a beautiful name. And I would be fine with naming the big black hole after some terrifying monster in any number of mythologies. But we have to stop calling it A*. It's just wrong.

[–] notabot@piefed.social 3 points 11 hours ago

10/10 rant. I admire your passion, the internent needs more of this sort of thing.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago

"How we envy you, envy you! Lucky humans, who can close your minds to the endless deeps of space! You have this thing you call... boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song — it went 'Twinkle twinkle little star....' What power! What wondrous power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace of unimaginable strength, and turn it into a little song for children! You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!”

- Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I so admire your passion! Could I borrow a bit? Feeling pretty down.

[–] crazycraw@crazypeople.online 6 points 1 day ago

what a..cheeky.. use of ..asinine...

[–] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

If you think all the scientists around the world giggling about all the puns are gonna destroy that ever bountiful source of joy, you got another one coming.

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 4 points 1 day ago

I don’t care if scientists at the time of its discovery preferred Uranus.

heh

caelus rhymes with sigh-lus

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No. We need this right now.

[–] spizzat2@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago

Don't worry. Scientists will fix this once and for all in 2620.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Isn't it supposed to be pronounced "YOUR-uh-nuss"? I get that people will prefer the childish pronunciation, but the one I listed is preferred by scientists, so it's not an issue there.

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago

"urine-iss"

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s pronounced you-RON-us. Also, which Roman god is Earth named after?

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not. It's just named after dirt.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know, that was my point. The comment I was replying to said “all the other planets are named after Roman gods”.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ah. Yes, they meant all the other discovered planets are.

[–] dev_null@lemmy.ml 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

How is Earth not a discovered planet? Discovering it was one of the first things I did after being born.

[–] mobotsar@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago
[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago

Because it was "discovered" long before we even knew what a planet was.

[–] Xande@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 day ago

What did he eat?

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

c/theyknew (don't have time to make a proper link)

[–] Hikermick@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've been listening to Transmissions from Uranus https://youtu.be/sgprkZbDvcE

[–] kingofras@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Risky click of the week