Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion

Is this a stupid question?

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waldi1:
I wonder why a lot of tropical fruits are called APPLE in English like
CAIMITO   STAR APPLE
SARAMUYO  SUGAR APPLE
ANONA  CUSTARD APPLE
AEGLE MARMELO  WOOD APPLE
MANOLO VELVET APPLE
POMAROSA  ROSE APPLE
MARANON CASHEW APPLE
MANZANA MALAYA WATERAPPLE
 AND MORE LIKE ELEFANT APPLE,MONKEY APPLE ETC.

digigarden:
they are simply "vulgar" or common names so that's how fruits are described to common people or even before scientific names were a thing...you see in different villages people will make up different names for fruits or other things.also because apple is the most common famous fruit from europe it was easy to use this word. we can see that for other types of fruits in america the natives used the word sapote that means soft edible fruit...but so many unrelated fruit now are known as sapote.

Galatians522:
English speakers were trying to describe things they had seen and eaten to someone who had never seen or tasted it before by using terms that the listener could understand. They used other fruits from Europe in their descriptions as well. For example, Prickly Pear, Natal Plum, Tropical Apricot, Sea Grape, Desert Peach, and Strawberry Tree. Apples were just the most common fruit, so it was the fall back when there was nothing at all close to compare to in Europe. Other cultures do it too. Actually, I am told that the Chinese name for Sugar Apple is "Foreign Lychee."

waldi1:
Thanks both to you for you explenation

digigarden
Galatians522

fruitlovers:
Lots of fruits from other countries took on the name of x apple, or y plum, or z cherry. Partly it's because people like to compare fruits with something they already know and are familiar with. But i think also partly it's due to laziness or lack of imagination. Most of those fruits don't look or taste anything like apple, plum, or cherry. Also having those names repeated in every common name adds to the confusion of what they really are referring to. This is a big part of the problem of common names.
I think your question is actually a very good question about common english names of fruits.

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