Free tip to anyone writing historical fanfic (or fanfic in a setting where there is agriculture or at least livestock being fed):
Hay is eaten. Straw is not.
I know this seems petty, but I wasn't inspired to make this post because I can't shrug off a single-word mixup used in passing. Instead this comes from seeing it in situations where the difference actually does matter. Like maybe a character is trying to lure/distract a horse and they've established there's a field of wheat or oats nearby right? But instead of using the grain itself (which would have a decent chance of success), because they think hay and straw are interchangeable, they have the character try to feed the horse some straw that they've called "hay" instead.
Hay is grass. Straw is different plant biproduct used for stuff like bedding, insulation, mulch, etc. Now go forth, confident in the knowledge that your characters would know wtf you're talking about when using each word. If you're gonna do enough research to be able to accurately describe how to fully kit out a destrier or whatever you might as well get the hay/straw thing right too.
