Friday, August 31, 2007
What's in a name?
Some grocery store commercial on the radio had this farmer guy talking about “pluots”. Pluot? That’s a fruit? Sound more like a radioactive isotope of somekind. Turns out that it’s a cross between an apricot and a plum. Plum + Apricot = Pluot. There has to be a better combination. Like apricum. Heh. Okay maybe not that one. How about apriplum? Not very inventive, but it’s quite obvious what this fruit is a mix of. You’ll probably even be able to guess that it’s a fruit in the first place. Not like “pluot”, which as far as I’m concerned could be a rare shorebird from South America.
While we’re on the subject of fruity names, did you know the kiwifruit used to be known as a chinese gooseberry? Its name was changed in the 50s both because of the cold war (silly Americans), because berries were subject to high tariffs, and thirdly because “gooseberry” just isn’t all that appealing. “Kiwifruit” was much more exotic and sold much better after the name change. Fascinating, huh?
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Categories: • Thinking aloud