What's In A Name?

It happened in the supermarket. There, next to the figs and berries, I saw something ugli. No, that was not a typo, and no, I did not make up what's coming next: I had spotted an ugli fruit!

It's a sort of orange the size of a melon. Except that it's not quite an orange, it also resembles a grapefruit. Or a pomelo. Actually, it's really hard to say what it is, except that it is an ugli. And of course with a name like that I simply had to buy it! In fact, it gets better. The fruit comes from Jamaica, where it's name is pronounced "hugly". How adorable is that!?

Life (or at least food) would be more fun if people took the trouble to give interesting names to the things they eat. Take miracle fruit for instance. That is actually very aptly named, because miracle fruit berries confuse your taste buds and make them think that sour foods taste sweet!

But inapt names are even more fun.

The British are pretty good at this game. They created the toad in a hole, in the making of which no amphibians were harmed. They invented the Yorkshire pudding, which is really a pie. And they famously gave us spotted dick, which is a pudding and not, well, you know.

And then closer to home (omigosh, am I calling it home already!?) there are the Rocky Mountain Oysters. Obviously one part of the name has to be inaccurate, either the Rocky Mountains, or the Oysters. As it turns out, this food is not really oysters. Instead it is actually something that in Spain is known as "bulls' eggs". I leave the rest to your imagination.

Another inspired name is the geoduck. Which is not a duck (by now, you knew that was coming). It's really a clam. And it's pronounced "gooey duck". But not because it's gooey, because it isn't. It's name is derived from a word that means "dig deep". If it's any consolation, that actually does make sense, because the geoduck likes to burrow.

But my all-time favourite name is from Japan and belongs to the most refreshing and best tasting sports drink in the whole world. It's just too bad that it's called ...

Pocari Sweat.

Yechh!