I love that ‘moon’ is written under ‘place.’

  • samus12345@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    9 months ago

    Yes, but none of the others are named after exactly what they are. The Earth has a lot of earth on it, yes, but it’s a planet, not a clump of earth. Using a non-English word for “moon” and assuming it’s sufficient would be pretty lame and very English-centric.

    • crackajack@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      9 months ago

      We already call satellites orbiting a planet “moon”, as in Europa is a moon of Jupiter. Or Phobos is a moon of Mars. But right now when we say moon, it usually means our moon.

      You’re right that in the future we would have to use a generic term for all extraterrestrial objects once we start colonising space. Which is why I think in the future, “moon” will become the catch-all term for the non-Earth moon, while we will call our own as Luna instead.