gh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst) (04/23/85)
> I heard (I think from John Ciardi) that "tuna" was an advertising > ploy, you know, like Greenland. The fish was commonly known (and > still is by fishermen) as "horse mackerel", and was caught solely > for use as bait. Then some wise guy found that it didn't taste > half bad (perhaps having been introduced to it in the Orient), but > had to do something about the name to ensure popular acceptance. Webster's gives "tuna" a respectable etymology going back to the Greek for a wide class of fish (albacore, bonita, etc.), and dates its usage in English to ca. 1884. (Hey, maybe this is the tuna centennial year.) > A more modern Greenlandism is "kiwi fruit". Can a New Zealander > out there tell us what you really call the thing? In Australia, we always used to call them Chinese gooseberries, which makes sense as they aren't gooseberries and don't (I understand) originate in China. -- \\\\ Graeme Hirst University of Toronto Computer Science Department //// utcsri!utai!gh / gh.toronto@csnet-relay / 416-978-8747
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (Berry Kercheval) (04/25/85)
In article <451@utai.UUCP> gh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst) writes: >In Australia, we always used to call them Chinese gooseberries, which makes >sense as they aren't gooseberries and don't (I understand) originate in China. Well, heck, that's OK: "English horns" are neither horns nor English! Any more self-contradictory words? -- Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900 (kerch@lll-tis.ARPA)
devine@asgb.UUCP (Robert J. Devine) (05/07/85)
> Well, heck, that's OK: "English horns" are neither horns nor English! > > Any more self-contradictory words? > Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) Red herring!
jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) (05/10/85)
> > Well, heck, that's OK: "English horns" are neither horns nor English! > > > > Any more self-contradictory words? > > Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) > > Red herring! Not really. Herrings turn red when smoked. Smoked herrings have a strong odor; to drag one across a trail would divert a tracking dog. This is why "red herring" means "a false diversion." -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) aka Swazoo Koolak {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff