You are right, Fal; I meant descriptivism. I edited it so as not to confuse future readers. Thanks for catching that.

What I mean by "real" is that maybe many people know that it's inaccurate, but they still use it they way the "folks" expect. One's own internal acceptance is optional, as always...

I always wondered about those 'chokes. Has anyone eaten them, or does anyone eat them regularly? I'd love to try a recipe, just for fun. The Spanish for sunflower, similar to the Italian, is "girasol", which literally means "sun turner". I don't know of a good place for etymologies of Spanish words, but maybe one of you does. For example, "paraguas" (umbrella) has always stumped me as to whether it comes from "parar" ("to stop") or "para" ("for"). Both make sense. It must be the same as for "parasol". It's interesting that our English word, umbrella, is used almost exclusively (in the US) for rain, but the name does not refer to rain or water, but instead to shade. :0)