Wednesday 17 April, 2002 at 11:38AM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (0)

One thing I keep seeing here in USA which I may or may not have posted about before: Kiwis. I'll get graphic here.

Ok. Can you tell the difference? For some reason, Americans think that a kiwi is the name of a small fuzzy fruit. Let me correct you, and please take note any American shop owners reading this, because it makes you look kind of stupid. A "kiwi" is a nocturnal medium-sized flightless bird native to New Zealand, which also happens to be the national bird of New Zealand. This is why New Zealanders are usually referred to as 'kiwis'. A kiwi is not a small fuzzy fruit. The small fuzzy fruit is called a "kiwifruit". Is that clear enough for you? One other thing to take note of people - if you visit New Zealand and start loudly proclaiming that you eat kiwis, you will probably find yourself arrested and deported, so best you get this sorted out now. Try to imagine me walking into a shop in the US and asking for a pound of American Bald Eagle. That wiped the smirk off your face, didn't it.

When I was about five years old, my mother used to refer to a kiwifruit as a 'chinese gooseberry'. I have no explanation for this, other than she had been living in the USA for too long prior to moving back to New Zealand.

That's all. You may go about your business now.

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