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Joined: Aug 2000
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newbie
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Ispired by the message I received from fellow AWADtalk member, RhubarbCommando, "What with Oranges, apples and rhubarb, we have the makings of a fruit salad, here!" I decided to form a forum with the following question in mind: how did fruits and vegetables get their names? I've been especially confused by "pineapple". Is it really in reference to apples? Or am I sounding stupid by just asking that?  "A sobering thought: what if, at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential?" JANE WAGNER
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
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I decided to form a forum with the following question in mind: how did fruits and vegetables get their names?The one contribution I can make to your salad is, unsurprisingly, kiwifruit. The name was chosen as a marketing tool after the fruit had been imported from China and bred into a marketable product. On this point, also, why is the country of origin of "kiwifruit" also almost the only place on Earth where the fruit is given its proper name? Whenever I hear that someone has kiwi for breakfast, I cringe. When spelled with a capital "K", "Kiwi" is a designation for a New Zealander. When spelled with a lowercase "k","kiwi" refers to the extremely endangered national bird of New Zealand. The edible product of Actinidia deliciosa is kiwi fruit. Please stop eating people and flightless birds, and enjoy your kiwifruit.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks, Max--it's nice to know how to be politically correct in an area which I have not given much thought to.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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>Whenever I hear that someone has kiwi for breakfast..<
I wonder how the fruit is called in Japan, since we heard of the Japanese taste for abbreviations..
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Joined: Jul 2000
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member
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Posts: 167 |
I seem to remember that the "official" name of kiwifruit was actually changed a few years back to something beginning with "z" (- zester? - can't remember)
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
I seem to remember that the "official" name of kiwifruit was actually changed a few years back to something beginning with "z"
The NZ Kiwifruit Marketing Board, in an attempt to distinguish its NZ-grown product from that of its competitors, badged it "zespri." I don't think the name did particularly well, IIRC
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 200 |
in japanese, it's usually "kiui", but "kiuifuru-tsu" is also used.
just wondering why "kiwi" can't mean both the bird and the fruit?
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Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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cantaloupe comes from cantalupo in italy.
i heard that melons were bred to be soft, sweet and juicy from hard and bitter pumkin-like vegetables there.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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melons were bred to be soft, sweet and juicy from hard and bitter pumkin-like vegetables
That could be a lesson for living, sweet william (which incidentally is a lovely flower).
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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> I seem to remember that the "official" name of kiwifruit was actually changed a few years back to something beginning with "z"
I have a faint memory of this particular delicious fruit being called "chinese gooseberries" in UK when I was a child. Which seems reasonable if it originated in China, because it certanly does resemble a gooseberry in shale and colour.
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