Thursday, April 28, 2016

Avocado Meant What?


The name for the main ingredient of guacamole dip has a long history.  It comes from an unpronounceable Nahuatl Indian (Aztec) word “ahuácatl" which means "testicle." It is thought that name was applied to the fruit because of the shape or because it was thought to have aphrodisiac qualities. So, of course, the name had to evolve into something that we could ask for when making the dip.  "I'll take two testicles for my guacamole, please" would not get us very far. Of course the slang "balls" does not help very much. So I guess it would be more couth to say, "It is cold enough to freeze the avocados off a brass monkey."  But it would make no sense in the movie, Goodfellas, for Tommy to have said,"Just don’t go busting my avocados, Billy, okay?"  Oh, well.

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