pomophobe

Sat May 7 20:51:31 UTC 2011

According to a long, multi-part article published the New Yorker back
in the '60's, people once considered oranges to be poisonous and the
trees were used only in landscaping.

OTOH, how did people discover that olives were safe to eat? Since UC
Davis is, at heart, an aggie school, in addition to the school's
actual arboretum, the campus itself is an arboretum, with cork oaks,
chinaberry trees - the only ones that I've ever seen outside of the
South, fig trees, and olive trees.

Now, whether an olive is green or ripe, there isn't anything about the
raw fruit that would cause anyone to consider it to be edible. During
every olive season, the school paper publishes recipes for the use of
fresh olives. Apparently, among other things, the olives have to be
steeped in a lye solution for a certain length of time.

WTF?! How did it ever occur to anyone to soak a foodstuff in lye?

Really, y'all,

Youneverknow.

--
-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

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 8:27 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 Re: pomophobe
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> You mean "pomeopathic."
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 10:25 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrot=
> e:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: pomophobe
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> At 10:07 PM -0400 5/3/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> >In later life Snow White suffered from pomophobia. Â But potatoes were OK=
> .
>> >
>> >JL
>>
>> I'm sorry, I hate to be prescriptive, but I must
>> insist: This disorder or fetish or paraphobia or
>> whatever it is must be called by its rightful
>> name: pommophobia. Â Pomophobia is, as ever, the
>> fear and/or hatred of post-modernism, Brits,
>> and/or British post-modernism. Â No apples,
>> potatoes, or tomatoes are involved, although
>> possibly some molecular bangers and mash. Â And
>> what's this with the poisonous green potatoes?
>> I'm almost positive I've eaten them on St.
>> Patrick's Day. Â Maybe green beer is a natural
>> homeopathic antidote.
>>
>> LH
>>
>> >
>> >On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:30 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Â ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> Â -----------------------
>> >> Â Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Â Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> >> Â Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: pomophobe
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>> >>-----------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------
>> >>
>> >> Â At 5/3/2011 06:17 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> >> Â >To me, the "ancients" are Homer and Vergil. Â You must be younger tha=
> n
>> me.
>> >>
>> >> Â Perhaps. Â But I thought I had found the origin of
>> >> Â "pomophobia". Â See Wikipedia on the potato, section "Africa" --
>> >> Â "Like in other continents, in spite of its
>> >> Â advantages as an antifamine, high-elevation
>> >> Â alternative to grain, the potato was at first
>> >> Â resisted by local farmers who thought it was poisonous."
>> >>
>> >> Â And snopes.com on "Claim: Green potatoes are
>> >> Â poisonous. / Status: True." Â Any green part.
>> >>
>> >> Â JSB
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Â >JL
>> >> Â >
>> >> Â >On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 5:40 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
>> wrote:
>> >> Â >
>> >> Â > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> Â > > -----------------------
>> >> Â > > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Â > > Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> >> Â > > Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: pomophobe
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â >
>> >>
>>
>> >>-----------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > > At 5/3/2011 04:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> >> Â > > >See, an apple in Latin is "pomum." Â It's kind of a play on words=
> .
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >But the ancients didn't have potatoes, so I don't see how they
>> could
>> >> Â have
>> >> Â > > >been afraid of them.
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >Except perhaps in dreams....
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > > Or in the Latin writings of the Spanish clerics
>> >> Â > > who accompanied the Conquest. Â The Spanish
>> >> Â > > brought the potato to Europe in the late 16th
>> >> Â > > century. Â I believe they were considered
>> >> Â > > poisonous by some (in England or France?),
>> >> Â > > although I don't immediately have documentation for that.
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > > Joel
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > > >JL
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 4:25 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> Â > > > > -----------------------
>> >> Â > > > > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.ED=
> U
>> >
>> >> Â > > > > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> >> Â > > > > Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: pomophobe
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â >
>> >>
>>
>> >>-----------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:55 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
>> >> Â > > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> >> Â > > > > wrote:
>> >> Â > > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> Â > > > > -----------------------
>> >> Â > > > > > Sender: =C2 Â =C2 Â =C2 Â American Dialect Society <
>> >> Â ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Â > > > > > Poster: =C2 Â =C2 Â =C2 Â Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL=
> .COM>
>> >> Â > > > > > Subject: =C2 Â =C2 Â =C2 pomophobe
>> >> Â > > > > >
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â >
>> >>
>>
>> >>-----------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------
>> >> Â > > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > > Yep. Over 10,000 raw hits.
>> >> Â > > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > > JL
>> >> Â > > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > > --
>> >> Â > > > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't
>> handle
>> >> Â the
>> >> Â > > > > truth."
>> >> Â > > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > > -----------------------------------------------------------=
> -
>> > Â > > > > > > The American Dialect Society -
>> http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> Â > > > > >
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > At first, thanks to increasing presbyopia, I read the word as
>> >> Â > > > > _pornophobe_, an obvious oxymoron.
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > But, "hates apples?" I don't get it.
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > --
>> >> Â > > > > -Wilson
>> >> Â > > > > -----
>> >> Â > > > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange
>> >> Â complaint
>> >> Â > > > > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> >> Â > > > > -Mark Twain
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> Â > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> Â > > > >
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >--
>> >> Â > > >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
>> the
>> >> Â > > truth."
>> >> Â > > >
>> >> Â > > >------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> Â > > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> Â > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >> Â > >
>> >> Â >
>> >> Â >
>> >> Â >
>> >> Â >--
>> >> Â >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> >> Â truth."
>> >> Â >
>> >> Â >------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> Â >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
>> >> Â ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> Â 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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