I Don't Think They Even Know They're X is a running joke on the podcast No Such Thing As A Fish.
The joke is mostly based in pedantry, as it revolves around pointing out when another presenter is ascribing too much animism to animals, plants, or inanimate objects. The joke follows a similar format to this example, which was the first instance of the joke in the podcast:
James: Did you know that lobsters can regenerate their eyes, but they can only do it a certain number of times. [...]
Andy: That's insane! Do they know how many times they've got?
James: I don't think they do. They probably don't even know they're lobsters.
List of Examples[]
- Episode 85: No Such Thing As Michaelangelo's Snowman
James: Did you know that lobsters can regenerate their eyes, but they can only do it a certain number of times. [...]
Andy: That's insane! Do they know how many times they've got?
James: I don't think they do. They probably don't even know they're lobsters. - Episode 142: No Such Thing As Edward Binbag-Hands
Anna: Are Eucalyptus trees one of the trees that love being set on fire?
James: I think they're pretty much ambivalent about the whole thing, really.
Andy: Do you think they don't even know they're trees? - Episode 184: No Such Thing As Dinosaur Diaries
Andy: Do [snakes] have a sense of self, I think is the question we're asking.
James: Ah, do they even know they're a snake? - No Such Thing As Wasted Material 2017
Dan: [Turning into a butterfly] defines a caterpillar's existence.
Anna: Who are you to say what defines the existence of a caterpillar? I don't know if a caterpillar would agree with that.
Dan: They probably wouldn't be able to argue with me...
James: They probably don't even know they're caterpillars. - Episode 217: No Such Thing As A Trapezium-Shaped Hankie
Andy: According to this thing I was reading, the avocados don't know that giant sloths have gone extinct.
James: Well I don't think they even know they're avocados. - Episode 291: No Such Thing As A Quintruple-Cooked Chip
James: Technically [a pair of frogs are] probably still married, I would say, wouldn't you say?
Andy: They don't know it though. They don't know they've been divorced, so they're...
James: Probably don't even know they're frogs. - Episode 330: No Such Thing As An Antarctic Vindaloo
Anna: Golden moles shine in all the colours of the rainbow and they'll never know it.
Andy: Is it because they're stupid? They don't even know they're moles? - Episode 338: No Such Thing As Carthaginian YouTube
James: [...] whether the dolphin was deliberately helping the humans across or whether it was just being a dolphin [...] we don't know. Well, we do know, because it didn't even know it was a dolphin. - Episode 339: No Such Thing As A Penguin in a Nightclub
James: [Pierre the penguin] probably doesn't even realise that Pingu is a penguin, he's just responding to the colour and the movement, which I suppose is probably true.
Andy: James, is this a way of you working in the fact he doesn't even know he's a penguin? - Episode 567: No Such Thing As A Honey Badger On Toast
James: It can go the other way, of course. There's a lot of things that look identical and turn out to be completely different.
Anna: Hmm.
James:Erm, so, for instance, there was- some researchers looked at the DNA of 643 bird species in North America, and they found 15 new species that looked identical to other things but when they checked their DNA it turned out they were completely different. Cos they just looked like little brown birds.
Anna:It's so weird- I always wonder with taxonomy, there must come a point when you think "Why are we doing this, why does it...?" Is it that- This bird doesn't care that it's a slightly different bird to this bird! Why do I care?
James:I guess we would know if things go extinct, if we put them in big databases.
Anna: Yeah, I know, but that's the thing, if it's very similar to this thing, then- I know it's a very controversial thing to say though, in the age of climate change!