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old hand
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old hand
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By the sound of its name, it'd be fair to assume that broccoli was Italian.
It ain't - it's Chinese.
stales
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old hand
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old hand
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re Tassie Devils
Aw come on WO'N, you're stretching it a bit here. That's the same as saying things like dalmatians, lions, large eared elephants, cuddly toys (eg Winnie and Piglet), Muggles and vintage flying cars also come from Hollywood.
Putting this to one side, do you remember the first WB cartoon in which Tas appeared? I recollect that he was in a box on a wharf - having been shipped there from Australia. Along with a kangaroo I think.
Didn't we have a discussion like this over Amerigo Vespucci's name?
stales
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Kiwi" fruit! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And the near destruction of the American elm--hasn't it been by Dutch elm disease? I could be manged here...
Curious,
DendroDub
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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By the sound of its name, it'd be fair to assume that broccoli was Italian.
It ain't - it's Chinese.
IT IS Italian !!!!! I mean, the green vegetables.
Broccoli is plural, from broccolo. By extension, broccolo means also a very stupid person.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Hi, E, you will like this: I just checked the dictionary, and it looks like the Italian word for head is testa. Do you-all ever call anyone "broccolo-testa"? My daughter and her friends at school used to say this one boy was a "broccoli-head", because of his odd hairstyle (temporary, thank goodness): he had it tied up in these little knots all over his head. Should I tell her they were calling him stupid?  Actually, he's not--he won a place in an international band competition, and got to go to Europe this summer.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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stales and emanuela, Maybe Marco Polo brought it back to Italy and now most of the western world uses the Italian name for the vegetable native to China. (as for 'broccolo' meaning a stupid person, thanks for that, emanuela! I love learning slang in other languages)
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
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dutch elm disease was first identified in holland.. even if it didn't originate there... so
but Vienna finger cookies..
and is prussian blue from Prussia?
dutch tulips (tulips name come from the idea that the flowers looked like turban..) and the plants original came from Turkey
and i was wondering.. does any other language have the some problem we have in english with Holland? also commonly known at ther Neatherlands, but the inhabitants are routinely called Dutch!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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of Troy... The turbans and the tulips curiously bring us around full circle to your opening post.
That said, what does the word "tulip" have to do with "turban"?
I would like to add that for the longest time I thought paisley came from some exotic locale like Turkey or Indian or Pakistan. I was astonished to learn that paisley was a pattern that came out of Scotland----so un-plaid!!
WW
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OP
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The word tulip is from the turkish tulbent--the turkish word for turban..
so now, faldage-- let me know: is Taliban from turban too, or is from an entirely different root, and related to talisman.. ( from greek for consecrated?) since some weeks past you pointed out "some of us even know what taliban means..." i suspect the latter...
and while we are in the general neighborhood.. Jerusalem Artichokes any one?
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