Cucumbers Cut Lengthwise appreciation thread

[HolmeBrian]

cucumbers are a gourd they are in the same family as pumpkins and zukes technically it is a vegetable because of this reason same with pumpkins also a vegetable because the seeds are soft not hard fruits have to have hard seeds or they land in this catagory.

[Lena_P]

Pumpkins do have hard seeds.

[HolmeBrian]

no they don't there is a fine line between hard and soft seeds they are the hardest of the soft i am not sure of the specifics when it comes to determining hard vs soft but pumpkin seeds are soft

[Lena_P]

I can't see how blueberry/strawberry/currant seeds are harder than pumpkin seeds ...

[GinnyN]

I eat pumpkin seeds once, in my chinese class ^^!. Now, those were the biggest pumpkin seeds ever! And maybe not from the same pumpkin you are talking about.

[caeska]

I like cucumbers to be honest, they're really good to have on cheese. But they have to be sliced or it's impossible to eat.

[Avistew]

I remember being taught that gourds are fruit. So pumpkins would be fruit, squashes too and so on.

Anyways. The interesting thing in French is that we have an aspirate H, but it's only used in laughs and the like. Like "Ha ha ha", each H is aspirate.
And seriously, why is it called "aspirate" instead of "expirate"? I don't know about you, but I breathe out, not in when I pronounce a H.

[Lena_P]

Because there's an aspirate when you say aspirate? Frankly, there is much about English that doesn't make sense. The important thing is to roll with the punches and not eat bitter cucumbers. (That's one thing I don't get; cucumbers in California never taste as good as the ones I get in KSA. Why the heck would they taste better there when they're grown in a desert?!)

[thesporkman]

Originally Posted by Avistew

I remember being taught that gourds are fruit. So pumpkins would be fruit, squashes too and so on.

Anyways. The interesting thing in French is that we have an aspirate H, but it's only used in laughs and the like. Like "Ha ha ha", each H is aspirate.
And seriously, why is it called "aspirate" instead of "expirate"? I don't know about you, but I breathe out, not in when I pronounce a H.

"Aspirate" and "expirate" would both essentially mean the same thing. "A" is the Latin prepositional prefix meaning "from," and "ex" is the Latin prepositional prefix meaning "out of." "De" is the prefix meaning "out from," and so "despirate" would also mean pretty much the same thing. "Inspirate" would mean "to breath in." "Obspirate" would mean "to breath in front of." "Conspirate" would mean "to breath with." "Respirate" would mean "to breath back" or "to breath again." Et cetera.

[Wapcaplet]

Originally Posted by Avistew

And "zed" for Z.

As it is in Canada as well.

[Avistew]

Originally Posted by Wapcaplet

As it is in Canada as well.

As far as I know, it is so in any English-speaking country that isn't the US.

Also, @thesporkman:

as·pi·rate, tr.v.
1 Linguistics

1. To pronounce (a vowel or word) with the initial release of breath associated with English h, as in hurry.
2. To follow (a consonant, especially a stop consonant) with a puff of breath that is clearly audible before the next sound begins, as in English pit or kit.

2. To draw (something) into the lungs; inhale.

So when it's not in linguistics, it means to breathe in, not out.

[Wapcaplet]

Originally Posted by Avistew

As far as I know, it is so in any English-speaking country that isn't the US.

We didn't make it up -- it's actually a regional British English dialect pronunciation that happened to catch on in the colonies, if this is to be believed. The Straight Dope also backs up that story.

[Avistew]

I wasn't trying to sound insulting. Changes in language due to distance are common, and considering most of your alphabet is pronounced in a "-ee" way, "zee" makes some sense.
Just saying that I was aware it's the same in Canada, and in most English-speaking places. Actually in school in France, we weren't even taught the "zee" variation.

EDIT: and usually, we're taught the stuff that's most different from French. Cue to years of being taught that "voyage", "vacation" and "baggage" aren't words in English, and you need to use "journey", "holiday" and "luggage".

[Irishmile]

I can not stop laughing its too funny....... cut lengthwise... comedy gold

[jaden551]

In the north-west england it depends on how posh you act really posh is zed normal is zee.

[Nagaoka]

Originally Posted by Avistew

EDIT: and usually, we're taught the stuff that's most different from French. Cue to years of being taught that "voyage", "vacation" and "baggage" aren't words in English, and you need to use "journey", "holiday" and "luggage".

Wha? I'm confused. Why were you taught that those weren't words, or even words not commonly used? At least where I'm from both sets of terms are common.

[Avistew]

Originally Posted by Nagaoka

Wha? I'm confused. Why were you taught that those weren't words, or even words not commonly used? At least where I'm from both sets of terms are common.

That's the point. Even when the words exist and are commonly used, if there is a word close to French and a word not close to French, they either told us that the words didn't exist, like in the examples above, or that they were never used, such as for instance "liberty", which was never used except for "statue of liberty".

Then in university I was told "oh yeah, all these words exist, we just wanted to make sure you'd learn the words that aren't close to French". We were penalized if we used the "wrong" ones! We got points deduced from our marks for using words like "comprehend" or "utilize". It's ridiculous.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Hayden

Well, there's only so much you can say about lengthwise-cut cucumbers. The topic doesn't exactly call for much discussing.

The solution to that is top stop discussing it then, and move on. This forum in general has become pretty shitty about just letting threads die and starting new ones. It's actually fairly annoying and lame.