Gherkin

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Dr. Goodword
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Gherkin

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:31 pm

• gherkin •

Pronunciation: gêr-kin • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A prickly West Indian gourd whose immature fruit is pickled. 2. A small pickled cucumber.

Notes: Today's Good Word is a curiosity: one of a very few English words beginning with GH. The H, of course, is irrelevant, a 'silent' H. Its oddness is probably responsible for the fact that it is a lexical orphan, without related derivations.

In Play: Moms, here is how you can spice up your discussions with your children using today's word: "Aha! Caught you jerking a gherkin out of the jar! Put it back or you'll ruin your dinner." There isn't much room in this word's meaning for metaphor, so we are stuck with its literal meaning: "I wouldn't insult my guests with gherkins on their hamburgers; I serve only large dills."

Word History: This English word is the result of mistaking Dutch gurken, the plural of gurk "cucumber", as a singular form. The Dutch word is a shortened form of augurk, borrowed from a Slavic language, either Polish ogorek or Russian ogurec. The Slavs probably got their word from late Greek angourion "watermelon". The Greeks may have taken the word from Persian angarah or aguron, but no one knows for sure. (We might have been in a pickle had Jackie Strauss not provided us with this Good Word when she did.)
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Gherkin

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:04 pm

I don't think so, Doc: "Aha, Caught you....."
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

George Kovac

Re: Gherkin

Postby George Kovac » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:12 pm

Actually there is one very famous metaphoric use of the word "gherkin." There is a distinctive London skyscraper, often featured as a background shot in movies to identify the scene's location, at 30 St. Mary Axe in The City. You have probably already seen this odd building, you just did not know its name. The building is more commonly known as "The Gherkin" due to its shape. For news and photos see http://www.thegherkin.org.uk/

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call_copse
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Re: Gherkin

Postby call_copse » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:44 am

Actually there is one very famous metaphoric use of the word "gherkin." There is a distinctive London skyscraper, often featured as a background shot in movies to identify the scene's location, at 30 St. Mary Axe in The City. You have probably already seen this odd building, you just did not know its name. The building is more commonly known as "The Gherkin" due to its shape. For news and photos see http://www.thegherkin.org.uk/
Quite, just what I was about to say.

Also I did wonder where the first example sentence was going when I first read it...the line end made it potentially a little risque for the good doctor.
Iain

George Kovac

Re: Gherkin

Postby George Kovac » Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:30 am

Yes, the gherkin/gourd/cucumber/pickle family must be used carefully in metaphors. Because I do not speak Turkish, I cannot speak first hand to this etymology, but I have spent a lot of time in Turkey on business, and I do not think my local colleagues were pulling my leg on this story. Apparently the traditional word for "cucumber" acquired a secondary meaning that eventually became so widespread and embarrassing that polite Turks were reticent to use the word to indicate the vegetable. Into this linguistic void another Turkish word for "cucumber" was enlisted, ending much of the unintended humiliation and snickering at the green grocers and salad bars.

As to the Brits and their "Gherkin" I suspect there is a lot of local joking about the building that is not strictly pickle-centric.

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Re: Gherkin

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:35 pm

Thanks for the reference with the picture in London. Never saw it before. Wonder what the architect was up to?
pl


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