Family Feud
Tonight, while cooking the HEB (local king of all grocery stores in San Antonio) “buy two get six items free” fajita special, two of my three 30-ish year old daughters and I were knocking back a few (lost count) shots of tequila (was a long day.)
My eldest daughter mentioned that the planet Pluto is slated to be renamed Persephone.
Normally, that would be one of those, oh neat observations and passed over to man-bashing (sorry) without incident.
However! Our Spidey senses were on high alert (thank you alcohol) and we had to debate the “why” behind the powers-that-be decision to rename Pluto to Persephone.
Seriously though, Pluto was designated an official planet of the Milky Way galaxy back in 1930. It was named so because it was farthest from the sun and coldest, thereby named for the Roman god of death (guess you had to be there).
Pluto was decommissioned in 2006 to the status of “dwarf planet” in our solar system because it wasn’t “big enough” (duh! It has moons.) Technically, it didn’t absorb and accumulate enough asteroids to meet the specs of planet status. Whateverrrrr.
Ok, ok, it doesn’t really matter, it’s the principal of the thing!
The youngest daughter and I argued for tradition: It’s been logged in history as a planet for almost 100 years. It was denigrated to a measly star, only to be plucked from galaxy-alley and put back into Planet Hollywood-B-actor status.
Then wtf are we canceling Pluto and renaming it Persephone? Hasn’t it suffered enough indignation?
Oldest daughter’s argument was the feminist approach: There aren’t enough planets named for women. (Initiate fog-horn audio).
Weak, but youngest and I bought it. We decided that was a good enough answer for us to go from conservative-traditionalist to liberal-secular-rationalist.
As a result of this short-lived, though volitile debate, I thought it might be a fun little blog to probe the WA masses with and see what the general feeling is on the debate!
Some points to consider:
• Pluto, King of the Underworld, friend/brother of Zeus, is the Greek version of Hades (it’s complicated).
• Persephone (aka Kore, bringer of death) is the daughter of Zeus and Demetrius
• Pluto kidnapped Persephone as she was innocently picking flowers (Zeus helped, Demetrius was livid), however she must’ve liked the bad-boy because Persephone married Pluto and they lived [fill in the blank] ever after.
Do research if you must; it is a rabbit hole! Then comment below, if anyone cares, whether we call Pluto, Pluto or Persephone.
Have a great day either way!
Recent Comments
3
I grew up knowing it as Pluto, so I’d have to stick to what I know. But then again, everything seems to be getting renamed these days, so who knows. Thanks for sharing.
Susan
It has always been Pluto as far as I can remember Tami, and it always will be in my opinion!
Also, I will always consider it to be a planet as well my friend!