vegetable terms

[Dan Goodman]

Alison Murie wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: vegetable terms
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On May 14, 2010, at 3:43 PM, Geoff Nathan wrote:
>
>
>> This evokes one of my cookbook pet peeves. It is very difficult to
>> find recipes for these things because cookbooks never agree on what
>> to call them. Sometimes you can find them under 'beans, green/string/
>> pole...', but other times under 'string' or 'green' or something.
>> Just for fun I checked epicurious.com and found that 'string' and
>> 'green' beans in 2 quick searches led to non-overlapping sets of
>> recipes.
>>
>>
>> ----- "Charles Doyle" <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> In the American South, we commonly refer to green/string beans as
>>> "snap beans" or "pole beans" (not parallel or distinguishing terms;
>>> "snap" refers to the manner of preparation for cooking; "pole" refers
>>> to the procedure for raising beans in the garden).
>>>
>>>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~
> Since seed developers have been creating more or less "stringless"
> beans for some time, now, the change in the common name probably
> reflects this and the desirability of a bean that doesn't require
> stringing before cooking.
>
However:   Note that Americans routinely drink out of plastic glasses,
use silverware made of plastic or of other metals, eat marshmallows
which contain no trace of any marsh mallow plant, use brooms which
contain no trace of bloom plants, etc.

And dial phones with key pads, refer to EBT cards as food stamps....

--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal dsgood.dreamwidth.org (livejournal.com, insanejournal.com)

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