why is it only ever tomato that people do the "Actually it's a fruit, not a vegetable." thing with? never cucumber, or bell pepper, or anything else. honestly, it's bizarre that, into adulthood, I still will occasionally hear people spouting this pseudo-factoid at all, as if it's a) something no one's ever heard before and b) actually factual.

its like, in third grade they heard someone say this and they just accept it totally uncritically and continued to parrot it to other people without ever thinking about it. and it just kept spreading, like that obviously dumb "tongue taste regions" thing, or...

@dba_afish: I think it's because tomatoes are kinda sweet tasting. Closer to what people generally think of fruits as this sweet part of the plant that you can eat. Unlike most types of vegetables.

It's also because people first heard about most science "facts" like that when they're kids, and kids are extremely gullible and impressionable. And depending on how the school educates them, or even just how strict the teachers are, students might not even bother to question whether what they learn from the book is true. A lot of schools recently have adopted a more explorative kind of learning in their curriculum. But a lot also haven't.