Tidbit #34 - May 25, 2011

Fruits have some strange names... Especially the grapefruit. Why the weird name? It has nothing to do with the little elliptical fruit... Right?

Question: Why is a grapefruit called a grapefruit?


Answer: Huh.. I learned something new today. (As I strive to do thrice every day) We've got a special source: loc.gov. Here's your quoted answer:

Most botanists agree that the grapefruit is a cross between a Pummelo (see http://pas.byu.edu/pas100/pummelo.htm) and a sweet orange (see http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/citr_sin.cfm.) 

Grapefruit, like all citrus fruit, is a Hesperidum, or a large modified berry with a thick rind.

If you see grapefruit growing on a tree, you will notice that they grow in clusters. It is suggested that these clusters resemble the shape of large yellow grapes and so the fruit was called a grapefruit. Another explanation is that the premature grapefruit looks similar in shape to unripe green grapes.

I wish all of the sites gave condensed answers so I wouldn't have to come up with one. Quoted from loc.gov, here is your condensed answer:

It is believed that the name refers to the manner in which grapefruit grows in clusters on a tree.

Peculiar, isn't it? They're like Goliath's grapes.

Tidbit #33 - May 25, 2011

Hey there, everyone out there!
It's been awhile, hasn't it?
I believe my last post was on the first of this month. I've been up to my eyeballs in work this month, seeing as it's the last month of school before summer vacation! I've accumulated a whole bunch of neat tidbits meaning to put them on my blog, but I've never gotten around to it till now.
So, let's get back to business:

Question: Where did the term "pardon my french" come from?


Answer: Lots of people use this phrase without knowing where it comes from. I searched it up, and I found two different answers on the same website, a new site for us: Google Answers. Here's the first one:

Some English-speakers stereotype the French as permissive about
anything risqué. This was particularly true a hundred years ago when
the phrase took off as an "apology" for swearing. "Excuse my French"
or "Pardon my French" isn't just play-acting that you're speaking a
foreign language. It's also a bit like saying, "I know those words are
naughty - but maybe I could get away with behaving like that in
France, where people are more tolerant of obscenity."

 And here's the second one:

It is thought that the term French is employed in this sense as it already had a history of association with things considered vulgar. As far back as the early 16th century, French pox and the French disease were synonyms for genital herpes, and French-sick was another term for syphillis.  The OED [Oxford English Dictionary] also equates the adjective French with "spiciness", as in French letter for "condom", French kiss (1923) and French (i. e. "sexually explicit") novels (from 1749).

Well, now, I assume that you guys still want condensed answers, correct? Well, wait no longer, here you are:

The term could've taken its roots in people playacting as if they were saying something in another language besides a curse word in English; it also could have originated due to the already existing French names for bad things (i.e. French pox = genital warts)

A VERY Important News Announcement - May 1, 2011

If anyone hasn't heard yet, I've got the scoop here.

Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and the runner of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, has been killed in an operation launched by the United States in Pakistan, where U.S. troops found Bin Laden and, "after a fire fight," killed Bin Laden and took control of his body.

Still don't believe me? Check out the news:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/bin.laden.obit/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1