beetroot

plutoman I think barbabietola, the Italian for beetroot, is a pretty cool word. Apr 7, 2011

ruzuzu My Latvian grandmother used to make a potato salad with pickled hearing, pickled beets, and... well... pickles. The Americans used to refer to it as "That Pink Potato Salad." Apr 4, 2011

dontcry yarb: gracias! Oct 2, 2008

yarb I adore beetroot. My mother used to boil it with honey.

Dontcry: estoy en acuerdo, mi cucarachita. Oct 1, 2008

dontcry I say and love beets. Safest to eat them naked and outside -- or with your face directly over the sink.

I just say roach -- unless I'm saying it in Spanish then I say the whole thing 'cause it sounds almost like a term of endearment. Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear Well, funny you should ask, pterodactyl: it's another word for f**k. In the sexual sense. Oct 1, 2008

pterodactyl So, what do root and rooting mean in Australia?

*quite curious now* Oct 1, 2008

reesetee Heehee! Oct 1, 2008

rolig When I was a little kid in B'more, I'd go around singing the Roto-Rooter jingle all the time. I had no idea what it would do to me. Oct 1, 2008

reesetee You guys aren't the only ones who laugh at RotoRooter! Of all the bizarre names....

Also, before this company became a huge conglomerate, one of the "mergee" companies was named Roach Brothers Real Estate. I suspect they employed RotoRooter for certain property problems.
Oct 1, 2008

plethora Hehehe, classic. No worse than Lube Mobile, though. Oct 1, 2008

bilby *** laughs like a really fat spider *** Oct 1, 2008

frindley *** falls out of chair laughing *** Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear Do they?! That's cute. :) I remember my Aussie friends practically falling out of their chairs laughing when I told them about this company in my home state. (P.S. For maximum effect, turn the sound on when you click that link.)

I don't think your theory is shot to pieces re: toilet and ... stuff like that, though. Oct 1, 2008

frindley Ah, my prudishness theory is indeed shot to pieces. Will abandon it forthwith, at least in the matter of beets. I had quite forgotten to make a connection with the fact that Aussies snicker whenever Americans talk about rooting for a sports team. Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear Rolig, why do you think WeirdNet defines manroot without any mention of a massively swollen red root?

p.s. did you mean lasciviousness, perchance? Oct 1, 2008

trivet Mmmmmm, beets! I like 'em roasted, pickled, borschted, stewed with their tops.... And you can use them to make purple noodles. Oct 1, 2008

rolig More evidence of Weirdnet's lasciousness: "having a massively swollen red root…" I think Weirdnet is plagiarizing gay porn.

Edit: lasciviousness. (I'm typing too fast.) Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear Hee... no, root does not have the same slangy meaning in the United States as it does in Australia... does it also in England/U.K.? (*thinks so but is not sure*) (*now wonders about that "massively swollen" up there in the WeirdNet definition*)

Bilby, can't you buy them at the grocer? They are in supermarkets and grocery stores here. Hmm. Oct 1, 2008

bilby Oooh, beet greens! If only I could get these *sighs* Oh well, plenty of other decent greens around.

That anecdote and description of Recalcitrant Princess Frindley in her high chair has made my day :-) Oct 1, 2008

plethora Americans don't use root the same way we do, do they? So it wouldn't be considered taboo? Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear p.s. I've had it on burgers, too, reesetee! but it's not all that common in the U.S. it seems. :( Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear That's an interesting theory, though, frindley, especially given the occasionally-traced-as-puritanical strains that continue to run through American culture... I would suggest another theory that might be partly responsible: Americans tend to shorten words a lot. (We're in such a hurry, you know. ;)) Maybe that's why roach and beet are slightly more common—again, if they even are more common.

Also, Americans seem less likely than others to eat the greens of beets, making the distinction between beet and beetroot less important, because it's more likely when you're mentioning the vegetable at all, that you're talking about the root. (In my experience, when any other part or even purpose of the plant is referred to, it's precisely indicated: e.g. beet greens, sugarbeet.)

Disclaimer, again: these are broad generalizations intended only to spur linguistic conversation and not ignite political/cultural flame-wars. Also, I love beet greens, but they don't love me. Oct 1, 2008

reesetee But only if your survey includes just me. ;-> Probably a regional thing. Oct 1, 2008

frindley Just like I surmised: possibly erroneous. Oct 1, 2008

reesetee 1) I love beets (or beetroot). 2) I've had it on burgers. 3) I say cockroach and live in the United States.

Just sayin'. :-) Oct 1, 2008

frindley My mother liked beetroot way too much. Every week she'd be boiling some up in the pressure cooker. I couldn't stand it and refused to eat it. (Refused to eat anything it had even touched!) I was once left to sit in my high chair for quite some hours after lunch with a plateful of tomato and beetroot staring at me – these being the two salad vegetables I hated. By dinner time my mother realised there was no way I was ever going to eat them. In the end she indulged me because I would eat just about everything else, including baby prawns, which were very useful for keeping me amused while she unpacked the shopping. Oct 1, 2008

frindley Then there's borscht. Oct 1, 2008

frindley True. Actually, thinking of beet/beetroot always makes me think of roach/cockroach. I've long held the possibly erroneous and almost certainly unfair view that the use of the two shortened forms is a further sign of American prudishness, i.e. an unwillingness to use the words root and cock in polite company, along with the word toilet, which I have only just trained myself back into using in a unselfconscious way, two-and-a-half years after returning to Australia! Oct 1, 2008

bilby My carpetwise mother wouldn't allow it in the house, so I had limited exposure to it as a kid.
It's an important food in Russia because it stores so well through the long winter. I had plenty while I was there and it was okay, a bit too earthy on its own but just the thing in vinaigret salad. Oct 1, 2008

chained_bear Oooh, frindley, your description is making me crave some of those sloppy bleeding vinegary slices right now...

p.s. in the United States it isn't usually called beetroot, just beets. And it's never (that I know of) served on burgers. Which is a shame, really. Oct 1, 2008

plethora I'm indifferent to beetroot. But I've never eaten it. Oct 1, 2008

frindley My theory involves two factors:
1. It's just so messy – all that crimson juice everywhere – and furthermore, it makes many people think of blood, so deep-set taboos probably come into play at the subconscious level.
2. Because it is commonly prepared by pickling in vinegar, there will be many who don't care for or can't stand the taste. (I count as one of these people; the couple of times I have eaten raw beetroot, which is rather sweet, I haven't minded it so much.)

Dried raw shredded beetroot manages to avoid both problems, but it's hardly ever served that way. Only in those sloppy, bleeding, vinegary slices that stain everything in the salad or burger with which they're served. A shame really. Oct 1, 2008

kewpid Why does it split people so? I have never come across anyone indifferent to beetroot. Oct 1, 2008