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From: jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: GRAPEfruit?
Message-ID: <187@osiris.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Mar-85 06:05:56 EST
Article-I.D.: osiris.187
Posted: Tue Mar 19 06:05:56 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Mar-85 03:21:07 EST
References: <345@ihu1m.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Johns Hopkins Hospital
Lines: 21

> --
> OK, nature lovers, does anyone know how the grapefruit got it's
> name?  My dictionary (a Winston 1936 edition--the "Flags of the
> World" plate has some colorful entries for Latvia, Estonia, the
> Spanish Republic, and of course, the German Reich) simply notes
> "grape + fruit", but honestly, it's awfully hard to discern any
> similarity between the two species.  Grapes not only don't look
> anything like grapefruits, they also don't taste anything like
> them, and anyone who can't tell a grape vine from a grapefruit
> tree has one or the other for brains.  What's the straight poop?  

	Seems to me that I read someplace that this was because when
European explorers first found grapefruits, they called them so because
they grew in clusters like grapes. I've never *seen* a grapefruit tree
so I have no idea if this has any possible validity.
-- 
  

jcpatilla

"'Get stuffed !', the Harlequin replied ..."