pomophobe

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/3/2011 04:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>See, an apple in Latin is "pomum."  It's kind of a play on words.
>
>But the ancients didn't have potatoes, so I don't see how they could have
>been afraid of them.
>
>Except perhaps in dreams....

Or in the Latin writings of the Spanish clerics
who accompanied the Conquest.  The Spanish
brought the potato to Europe in the late 16th
century.  I believe they were considered
poisonous by some (in England or France?),
although I don't immediately have documentation for that.

Joel


>JL
>
>On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 4:25 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: pomophobe
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:55 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject: Â  Â  Â pomophobe
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Yep. Over 10,000 raw hits.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > At first, thanks to increasing presbyopia, I read the word as
> > _pornophobe_, an obvious oxymoron.
> >
> > But, "hates apples?" I don't get it.
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org