• OpenStars@startrek.website
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    5 months ago

    … right, “Archaeopteryx” can fly, but not all “dinosaurs” can fly. That distinction is crucial.

    In an entirely different manner, “dinosaur” != “theropod” bc the former is a common word, an unscientific one, whereas the latter is a more precise one. If you had originally asked me are birds theropods, I would have been forced to say yes (entirely unbegrudgingly though, I’m just emphasizing how I would have no choice), but that’s not what you asked: you talked about DINOSAURS vs. birds, which is an entirely different thing, being in the realm of common use of those words.

    Anyway, I agree that it is good to learn more about things, and as we do, we become better ourselves.:-)

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
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      5 months ago

      No one said all dinosaurs can fly or that all dinosaurs are birds.

      I said birds are dinosaurs.

      Paleontologists say birds are dinosaurs.

      The link you provided me said birds are dinosaurs.

      Only you disagree.

      “Common use” of the words does not matter. Birds are dinosaurs in every biological way.