• M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
    2 months

    Eh, we see lots of people infested places and they can also live there. The two things can both be true. (Granted the number of sharks needed for this title is a bit low).

  • melfie@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2 months

    On a related note, the “Cities” episode of Planet Earth is an interesting one. Human cities are the fastest growing ecosystem on Earth, so why wouldn’t our fellow planetary inhabitants want to take our shit when we’ve been taking theirs?

  • Midnitte@beehaw.orgEnglish
    2 months

    We also kill millions of sharks per year, while they’re responsible for maybe 10 human deaths per year (worldwide).

  • Danarchy@lemmy.nzEnglish
    2 months

    This is why festivals are called that all teeming with wretched humans and their various parasites

  • im_fine_sandy@nord.pubEnglish
    2 months

    Actually marinas like the one pictured or “canal estates” often create environments that become “infested” with pests and predators. Some of which for example contain bull sharks in plague proportions. Yes sharks live in the ocean but anyone living next to a canal teaming with them would conclude that there is an “investation”.

    Bull sharks are unique in that they can somehow retain salt from ocean / salt / brackish water which allows them to operate in fresh water. They’re also more aggressive than other species, or perhaps just more likely to grab at movement in murky river water.

    I remember watching a documentary suggesting that bull shark attacks might have been the inspiration for the Jaws series, after a spate of attacks in estuaries in the US in the years prior.

    Jeremy Wade on River Monsters TV series also had an episode about them.

    • johnyreeferseed@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2 months

      I just watched a movie last week where these people where exploring a freshwater cave and then became trapped by a shark. I thought it was some stupid movie detail, didn’t know it might actually be possible.

  • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2 months

    infest verb in·​fest in-ˈfest infested; infesting; infests Synonyms of infest transitive verb

    1 : to spread or swarm in or over in a troublesome manner shark-infested waters

    2 : to live in or on as a parasite

  • RobotToaster@mander.xyzEnglish
    2 months

    I’m taking this far too seriously for a meme, but I already looked it up out of curiosity so ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

    To inhabit a place in unpleasantly large numbers; to plague, harass.

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/infest

    Interestingly (at least to me) it looks like it’s related to "manifest’.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2 months

      Humans infest shark habitats. You don’t see sharks coming into your gated community, do you?

      • gjoel@programming.devEnglish
        2 months

        No, sharks rarely infest gated communities. The point was that infestations usually consist of animals that live in the place they are undesired.

        • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.todayEnglish
          2 months

          No, the point is that indigenous populations are not infesting their own natural habitats.

          For example, “Native Americans” did not “infest” the United States. White people did.

          • gjoel@programming.devEnglish
            2 months

            So the right phrasing would be “no, it’s their natural habitat”, not “no, they live there”, since, and this was my point if you go back, if an animal infests something it usually lives there, making the point in the post redundant.

          • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2 months

            Yes the white folks came and made a mess of the place. Which, if sharks chose to move into your house, they would also do. Probably leave the taps running all over the place too

          • bobo@lemmy.mlEnglish
            2 months

            For example, “Native Americans” did not “infest” the United States. White people did.

            Do you imagine the various indigenous populations of Americas popped out of the ground like mushrooms? They’re pretty far from their “natural habitat” in the plains of sub-saharan Africa… Or is that too far back in history and their “natural habitat” is in Siberia and Polynesia?

            • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.todayEnglish
              2 months

              It’s not that they came from nowhere, but rather that they aren’t pests. Invaders slaughtered them and colonized the country, and in modern times are actively destroying ecosystems and the environment.

          • gjoel@programming.devEnglish
            2 months

            That’s a different point though. If you have a termite infestation, you might say that they’re invasive to the house and it’s not their natural element. However you might also say that they live there, which is equally true.

            • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.todayEnglish
              2 months

              If you have a termite infestation, you might say that they’re invasive to the house and it’s not their natural element. However you might also say that they live there, which is equally true.

              But the post is about sharks in the ocean. It is their natural habitat, they live there, but because they’re sometimes inconvenient to humans, humans sometimes use the phrase “shark-infested waters”, which can be damaging because it frames disrupting the ecosystem as some kind of defensive act.

              • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2 months

                And my point was it’s the humans that don’t belong and cause damage and yet there have been humans infesting the oceans since time immemorial and it’s only getting worse.

    • Zaphod@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2 months

      Aren’t infestations about something that wasn’t there before and doesn’t actually belong there?

        • credo@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2 months

          I saw both links pop up as well. I opted to go with the first, standard, book— webster’s instead of cherry picking.

          The problem is, both meanings are correct. However, the “troublesome” definition is primary… and look at the example given:

          1 to spread or swarm in or over in a troublesome manner

          shark-infested waters

          2 to live in or on as a parasite

        • Rothe@piefed.socialEnglish
          2 months

          We are aware of the dictionary definition. OP was precisely about arguing that that definition is a based on a fallacy.

            • BossDj@piefed.socialEnglish
              2 months

              Present where they are unwanted, but often used to describe their natural habitat.

              • quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                2 months

                I see. The word infested has nothing to do with being their natural habitats or not, it means that there’s plenty of an animal we don’t want for whatever reason, otherwise we would say that it is rich in those animals.

                Edit: Oh, second I see. The fallacy is that they are using a wrong definition that is creeping into a common use of the word not yet in the dictionary.