Vent: I've been calling this rock in my yard 'granite' for years and it's not

Honestly, I finally took a close look with a hand lens and saw it's full of little green crystals, which granite doesn't have. My neighbor, who's a retired teacher, came over and said 'That's not granite, that's diorite, the green is hornblende.' Has anyone else had a basic rock they totally misidentified for a long time?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathan2892mo ago

I had a big piece of "basalt" on my porch for ages. A friend who hikes a lot picked it up and said it was way too light. Turns out it was just a dark chunk of concrete someone had shaped. Felt pretty silly, but it taught me to look closer at things.

perry.avery2mo ago

Wait, so you've been giving a rock the wrong name for years and it never corrected you? Rude of it honestly. I had a chunk of "cool black lava" on my bookshelf that turned out to be slag from an old iron furnace. My own personal rock just ghosted me with a fake identity.

ivanl762mo ago

My buddy swore his driveway gravel was just plain quartzite. He used to tell everyone about it. A geology student finally pointed out the pink feldspar grains, saying it was actually arkose sandstone. He was a bit embarrassed but thought it was pretty funny!