this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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But is it a chicken egg because it hatches into a chicken or because it is laid by a chicken?
Because it hatches into a chicken, you're thinking of a chicken's egg
Wait, so is an unfertilized egg referred to as a chicken's egg, and never a chicken egg?
it contains the DNA of a chicken, if not a viable chicken embryo
"chicken's egg" is the owner of the egg the chicken inside it, or the one who laid it?
Likewise it's not clear that "chicken egg" refers to the creator of the egg or the inhabitant of it.
Pretending for the sake of semantic argument that any of these scenarios were possible:
If an alligator laid an egg and a chicken came out, was that a chicken egg?
If a chicken laid an egg and an alligator came out, was that a chicken egg?
But now consider, you know what I mean by the following phrase:
"An alligator laid a chicken egg, and an alligator hatched out of it"
One who laid it. Yes it is, it's the inhabitant. Yes. No. You mean alligator egg, not chicken egg.
"you mean alligator egg"
No, I didn't. And yet you still likely understand what I mean, or get close enough to what I mean that it doesn't matter, unless you're being intentionally obstinate.
And what do you think of the idea that the egg is simply a phase in the life of an animal, that the chicken is the egg it hatched from, not just the former inhabitant? In this case how can the egg be owned by the animal that laid it if it is itself an animal?
Like the caterpillar is the chrysalis is the butterfly, the chicken is the egg.
If it hatches into an alligator then it's an alligator egg, so yeah you did mean alligator egg. I actually don't know what you mean, because what you described doesn't make sense.
And I do think think that, it belongs to that creature just like you belong to your mom and vice versa. If somone pointed at your mom and said "that's PeriodicallyPedantic's mom" and you said "Aha! But how can she be mine when she's a different person!", they'd probably just say "the fuck you on about".