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So What Should We Call This – A Grue Jay?

59 pointsby surprisetalklast Sunday at 6:11 PM26 commentsview on HN

Comments

gdavissontoday at 8:22 AM

"Grue" has a surprising variety of meanings:

Obsolete/dialiectical English: to shudder with fear, or a shudder (related to "gruesome")

Computer games: in Zork, a monster that eats adventurers in the dark [0]

Linguistics: an English translation for words that cover the entire green-blue part of the spectrum (in languages that don't distinguish blue from green) [1]

Philosophy: a color name that is equivalent to green until a specific future time, at which point it becomes equivalent to blue (used to raise questions about how to validly extrapolate into the future) [2]

[0]: https://zork.fandom.com/wiki/Grue

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue–green_distinction_in_lang...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_riddle_of_induction#Grue_a...

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kiddicotoday at 2:54 AM

I wish black cap and Carolina chickadees would do this to further increase the confusion around them.

usefulcattoday at 7:57 AM

> the range of blue jays, a temperate bird living all across the Eastern U.S., only extended about as far west as Houston. They

I get why the green jay’s habitat would have expanded northward (from more tropical areas) in a warming climate, but I don’t get why the blue jay’s habitat would have expanded west of Houston.

Like many places, central Texas is warmer than it used to be, and maybe drier, but I wouldn’t think you could call it more “temperate” now.

NooneAtAll3today at 11:48 AM

green jay looks more like a hybrid than the actual hybrid the post is about...

another_twisttoday at 11:26 AM

TIL uta has a brilliant website. And apparently no tuition, well done them.

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readthenotes1today at 2:53 AM

It is a grue jay only if it will devour you in the dark.

It seems we have failed to properly educate our children.

It is ignorance like this this makes me believe that civilization is doomed.

But we only have ourselves to blame

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naiantoday at 7:35 AM

>“We think it’s the first observed vertebrate that’s hybridized as a result of two species both expanding their ranges due, at least in part, to climate change,” said Brian Stokes

When all you have is a hammer…

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tobrtoday at 9:00 AM

I think it should be called a Blue Gray.

anigbrowltoday at 3:46 AM

Bleen Jay. It's more blue than green, and and also forms a mildly amusing pun, which is good for marketing.

meet_zaveritoday at 7:15 AM

why don't simply name "bluegreen jay" clearly from the colors we observe? As one of the users in comments said, it's ignorance (improper education reference) and we are only doing "mocking" if coming with such nicknames.

Borribletoday at 2:39 AM

Dull Jay.

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takiratoday at 2:48 AM

Trying to be both blue and green so perhaps.. a mockingjay..

bragrtoday at 3:07 AM

It will be interesting to learn if the hybrids are fertile or not

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mc32today at 3:00 AM

A gray jay sounds about right.

I get that the changing weather might change their habitual latitudes but there was and is always some "boundary" between the two, no? So there was always a boundary but it moves north or south depending on warming or cooling climates (these birds have been around for millions of years). How did they only mate now?

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orobustoday at 2:53 AM

I'm disappointed this wasn't a Nelson Goodman reference.

bitwizetoday at 8:08 AM

Ah yes, the elusive grue jay. As blue jays are corvids—relatives of crows and ravens, the grue jay, known for its habitat in colossal caves, is a relative of the similarly chthonic Deep Crow: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/21/the-crevice

system7rockstoday at 4:53 AM

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