Egg or Chicken
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Egg or Chicken
the age-old question, so, which came first ?
Re: Egg or Chicken
Not really suitable for games/puzzles, so moved to Off Topic
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Re: Egg or Chicken
It's impossible to say because there's no suitable definition of a chicken that allows this question to be answered properly. Unless you're talking about eggs in general, in which case the answer is egg.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
Assuming you mean chicken eggs and not general eggs, it's possible for a non-chicken to lay a chicken egg (by genetic mutation), but by definition it's not possible for a non-chicken egg to produce a chicken, so it must have been the egg.
Re: Egg or Chicken
What Charlie said. Heck! We actually agreed on something!
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Re: Egg or Chicken
There's a HEYlarious cartoon somewhere of a chicken and an egg in bed with an egg smoking a fag and a chicken looking unfulfilled. Do you see what they did there? As I mentioned; HEYlarious.
Assuming Darwinism, I reckon a long, long time ago (IAGFFA) that there was probably a chickenesque creature that didn't meet the criteria of a chicken but still laid what we would invariably describe as an egg, so I vote egg.
Can we vote on something more interesting now, like what tastes better on toast?
Assuming Darwinism, I reckon a long, long time ago (IAGFFA) that there was probably a chickenesque creature that didn't meet the criteria of a chicken but still laid what we would invariably describe as an egg, so I vote egg.
Can we vote on something more interesting now, like what tastes better on toast?
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Re: Egg or Chicken
What are the options?M. George Quinn wrote:Can we vote on something more interesting now, like what tastes better on toast?
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Re: Egg or Chicken
So is an x-egg by definition an egg that produces an x rather than one produced by an x? Unfertilised eggs of course don't produce chickens...Charlie Reams wrote:Assuming you mean chicken eggs and not general eggs, it's possible for a non-chicken to lay a chicken egg (by genetic mutation), but by definition it's not possible for a non-chicken egg to produce a chicken, so it must have been the egg.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
Of course it's an egg. ANDIESEGG to be precise.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
I was going to stick with egg or chicken?Michael Wallace wrote:What are the options?M. George Quinn wrote:Can we vote on something more interesting now, like what tastes better on toast?
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Re: Egg or Chicken
In what case I should've said which...
I'm changing my avatar I can't even take myself seriously.
I'm changing my avatar I can't even take myself seriously.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
The egg!
Why fix an old joke when it's not broken!
Why fix an old joke when it's not broken!
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Re: Egg or Chicken
no probsGary Male wrote:Not really suitable for games/puzzles, so moved to Off Topic
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Re: Egg or Chicken
Of course that's ok with Gary!
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Re: Egg or Chicken
No matter which came first, both are lovely to eat , but I will say eggs.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
IAWTP.Charlie Reams wrote:Assuming you mean chicken eggs and not general eggs, it's possible for a non-chicken to lay a chicken egg (by genetic mutation), but by definition it's not possible for a non-chicken egg to produce a chicken, so it must have been the egg.
However, this is a forum primarily about a word game. So I believe Eoin was tryng to trick us. I believe the 'correct' answer is: the Chicken. It comes first in the dictionary.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
You make me chuckleDinos Sfyris wrote:Of course it's an egg. ANDIESEGG to be precise.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
The point being of course if you use the definitions that Charlie's implicitly using, a normal unfertilised egg that you eat wouldn't be called a chicken egg, because it doesn't produce a chicken.Gavin Chipper wrote:So is an x-egg by definition an egg that produces an x rather than one produced by an x? Unfertilised eggs of course don't produce chickens...Charlie Reams wrote:Assuming you mean chicken eggs and not general eggs, it's possible for a non-chicken to lay a chicken egg (by genetic mutation), but by definition it's not possible for a non-chicken egg to produce a chicken, so it must have been the egg.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
I said that a non-chicken egg can't produce a chicken. That doesn't mean a chicken egg must produce a chicken.Gavin Chipper wrote:The point being of course if you use the definitions that Charlie's implicitly using, a normal unfertilised egg that you eat wouldn't be called a chicken egg, because it doesn't produce a chicken.Gavin Chipper wrote:So is an x-egg by definition an egg that produces an x rather than one produced by an x? Unfertilised eggs of course don't produce chickens...Charlie Reams wrote:Assuming you mean chicken eggs and not general eggs, it's possible for a non-chicken to lay a chicken egg (by genetic mutation), but by definition it's not possible for a non-chicken egg to produce a chicken, so it must have been the egg.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
I was half-expecting that answer. So basically what we're saying is that if an x produces an egg and that egg produces a y, it is a y egg. But if an x produces an egg which produces nothing itself, it is an x egg. I think it's a bit dubious myself. It should be a nothing egg rather than a chicken egg!Charlie Reams wrote:I said that a non-chicken egg can't produce a chicken. That doesn't mean a chicken egg must produce a chicken.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
No, I'm not saying that. It could be that there's some other feature of the egg which distinguishes it as a chicken egg (I have no idea what.)Gavin Chipper wrote:I was half-expecting that answer. So basically what we're saying is that if an x produces an egg and that egg produces a y, it is a y egg. But if an x produces an egg which produces nothing itself, it is an x egg. I think it's a bit dubious myself. It should be a nothing egg rather than a chicken egg!Charlie Reams wrote:I said that a non-chicken egg can't produce a chicken. That doesn't mean a chicken egg must produce a chicken.
Or we could put the definition the other way round and say that an x always produces an x-egg (by definition), but an x-egg may not produce an x, in which case obviously the chicken came first. I guess that's an easier way to handle things.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
As long as your eggs aren't all in one basket.Charlie Reams wrote:No, I'm not saying that. It could be that there's some other feature of the egg which distinguishes it as a chicken egg (I have no idea what.)Gavin Chipper wrote:I was half-expecting that answer. So basically what we're saying is that if an x produces an egg and that egg produces a y, it is a y egg. But if an x produces an egg which produces nothing itself, it is an x egg. I think it's a bit dubious myself. It should be a nothing egg rather than a chicken egg!Charlie Reams wrote:I said that a non-chicken egg can't produce a chicken. That doesn't mean a chicken egg must produce a chicken.
Or we could put the definition the other way round and say that an x always produces an x-egg (by definition), but an x-egg may not produce an x, in which case obviously the chicken came first. I guess that's an easier way to handle things.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
What do you call the situation when a farmer could have anything from 52 to 54 eggs?Gavin Chipper wrote:As long as your eggs aren't all in one basket.
Three-range eggs.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
Chicken.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
Genius.Jon O'Neill wrote:Chicken.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
That one might want to put the definition the other way round was sort of my point anyway.Charlie Reams wrote:No, I'm not saying that. It could be that there's some other feature of the egg which distinguishes it as a chicken egg (I have no idea what.)
Or we could put the definition the other way round and say that an x always produces an x-egg (by definition), but an x-egg may not produce an x, in which case obviously the chicken came first. I guess that's an easier way to handle things.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
Yep, sure. Maybe the whole question is just supposed to spark a debate about definitions, which is pretty pointless but there we are. I originally thought that it was pretty arbitrary but you make a good case for it being that an egg laid by an x must be an x-egg.Gavin Chipper wrote:That one might want to put the definition the other way round was sort of my point anyway.Charlie Reams wrote:No, I'm not saying that. It could be that there's some other feature of the egg which distinguishes it as a chicken egg (I have no idea what.)
Or we could put the definition the other way round and say that an x always produces an x-egg (by definition), but an x-egg may not produce an x, in which case obviously the chicken came first. I guess that's an easier way to handle things.
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Re: Egg or Chicken
I also considered it to be pretty arbitrary but since you went for one option I thought it would best to disagree.Charlie Reams wrote:Yep, sure. Maybe the whole question is just supposed to spark a debate about definitions, which is pretty pointless but there we are. I originally thought that it was pretty arbitrary but you make a good case for it being that an egg laid by an x must be an x-egg.