So reading up on the evolution of whales for arguments sake has me realising all dolphins and whales are (as mentioned) from the same family.

Your traditional whale fits into "Baleen Whales (Mysticeti)" which have "soft, hair like structures on the upper mouth" and there are 16 species and 3 families.

Meanwhile there are also "Toothed Whales (Odontceti)" with 76 species and 10 families. They are smaller, actively hunt and almost always live in pods.

The most surprising thing I've learned is that the Baleen Whales typically have two blow holes...??? Also they do not echolocate but they do sing/chat.

So almost all your traditional large whales fit into the Baleen category and the traditional dolphin fits into the Toothed category. So there are key differences between them, but the overall family is whale.

This is a dumb argument huh

Unidan? Is that you?

Holy shit that was a decade ago.

A dolphin is a dolphin and a member of the whale family. But that's not what you said. You said a dolphin is a whale, which is not true unless you're okay with calling all members of the whale family whales, [...]. Which you said you don't.

It's okay to just admit you're wrong, you know?

You lost me here. OP never said dolphins aren't dolphins. They also never said other non-dolphin members of the whale family wouldn't be called whales. Where are you getting that from?

....except Dophins definitely are whales. This is not the same as corvids and crows.