Greetings my fellow Naija Hivians. I'm excited to be part of this wonderful community where I can learn and connect with my fellow Nigerians
Participating in this week's prompt, I will be sharing my experience on the topic below:
What’s the most ridiculous fact you know
Just like the saying goes, there is no end in learning. The joy of discovering new things is endless as it opens us to unexpected truths. Learning new things teaches us curiosity, critical thinking and evaluation
The ridiculous fact I recently discovered was that bananas are considered berries, while strawberries are not. When one of my teachers mentioned it, I initially thought she was speaking without thorough research. Since I was busy with the pupils' examination scripts , I didn't pay much attention to the discussion.
But as I got home, I decided to find out for myself what the truth was. First, I asked one of my friends if a banana is a fruit or a berry. She quickly responded with "fruit." I shared the argument with her, and she found it meaningless for a banana to be considered a berry.
However, I delved into making my own research, I found out that bananas are indeed classified as berries, even though they don't resemble typical berries. The truth remains that it was so difficult for me to agree to this fact at first.
Botanically, a banana is considered a berry. Berries are fruits that stem from a single flower ovary and produce plenty of fruit. While bananas are generally known as fruits, they can also be called berries. It seemed unusual, but my research supported this classification.
Strawberries as we know, that most people believe to be berries, are not. Strawberries are known as fruits, they do not meet the botanical definition of a berry. Strawberries develop from multiple ovaries, with tiny seeds on the outer surface. Therefore, strawberries are considered false berries, while bananas are the lesser-known berries.
This fact was ridiculous when I shared it with my students the next day. One of the pupils exclaimed, "Teacher, you mean berries like berries? That's strange!" Their reactions mirrored my initial surprise.
Word spread among the students, and one of them went home and told her mother about the teacher who classified bananas as berries. To my surprise, her mother attended the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting, eager to confront the me as misleading teacher.
During our discussion, she expressed her dissatisfaction, believing that I had misled her child. I calmly asked if she had conducted any personal research to verify the information. When she admitted she hadn't, I offered to show her the evidence on my phone.
As she read through the research, she realized her mistake and felt ashamed for jumping to conclusions without proper investigation. Remorsefully, she apologized for her hasty judgment.
Indeed, the fact that bananas are considered berries while strawberries are not may seem ridiculous. However, taking the time to explore and discover the truth behind such claims can be both amazing and educational.
There is much different between accepting something that sound close to the truth. When something is ridiculous, we are curious to make investigations, ask questions and seek knowledge from others. Ridiculous facts leaves us with the zeal to find out about the real fact and not just accept without a backup.
