My cousin calls every shiny rock quartz. Need advice on correcting him.

He showed me mica sheets from his yard. Kept insisting they're quartz. Now I'm stuck in an awkward geology debate.

4 comments

4 Comments

That mica thing is a perfect example. See this everywhere now. People call every handheld screen "a phone" even when it's a tablet. All green houseplants become "ferns." Feels like we're just slapping the closest familiar label on things and moving on. Saves the effort of learning the real name. Gets worse with tech and nature stuff especially.

michaeltorres1mo ago

Maybe just let him have his shiny quartz universe. Mica and quartz are about as similar as a car and a bicycle. The confidence is almost impressive though.

sarahf991mo ago

Last week, my neighbor called her Roku streaming stick a Fire Stick. It's just like the mica and quartz mix-up. People use the closest familiar name to avoid learning the real one. My mom does this with plants, calling all succulents 'cactus.'

emmahayes28d ago

Actually I get why people do that. It's not about being lazy, it's just how language works to get the point across. MichaelTorres, calling a car a bike would be wrong, but mica and quartz at least share a shiny look for a casual person.