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Gooooooseberrys


Mark
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Gooooooseberries ruin the memory, you know. That's why Mark can't find any.

Why are they called gooseberries? Do geese eat them? They don't look very goosey, or taste of goose. You don't have to shave a goose, or pull that little pip out of the end. So that when you are a kid and your mother tells you to do a whole bucket of them they all split so you eat them and get sick and ...

Sorry. I'll have a little lie-down now.

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[quote user="Mark"]

Can one buy gooseberry bushes in France or don't us French people like them?  Haven't seen any in garden centres/marchés.

 

[/quote]

I got some in the local Bricomarché last spring - both green and red. But they don't seem to have them in stock for very long.

Peter

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[quote user="Dick Smith"]Gooooooseberries ruin the memory, you know. That's why Mark can't find any.

Why are they called gooseberries? Do geese eat them? They don't look very goosey, or taste of goose. You don't have to shave a goose, or pull that little pip out of the end. So that when you are a kid and your mother tells you to do a whole bucket of them they all split so you eat them and get sick and ...

Sorry. I'll have a little lie-down now.
[/quote]

Dick (see, i remembered to write D in upper case)

as long as you don't PLAY gooseberry, that's ok

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[quote user="Dick Smith"]

Why are they called gooseberries? Do geese eat them? They don't look very goosey, or taste of goose. You don't have to shave a goose, or pull that little pip out of the end. So that when you are a kid and your mother tells you to do a whole bucket of them they all split so you eat them and get sick and ...

[/quote]

Do they go well with goose - fatty bird, oily fish?

Corruption of groseiller or another similar root word (seems unlikely)?

Do people like to squeeze them for a thrill?

Did French kids (gosses) import them to Britain?

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On the other hand:

Etymology

The first part of the word has been usually treated as an etymological corruption either of the Dutch word Kruisbezie or the allied German Krausbeere, or of the earlier forms of the French groseille. Alternatively the word has been connected to the Middle High German krus (curl, crisped), in Latin as grossularia. However, the New English Dictionary takes the obvious derivation from goose and berry as probable; the grounds on which plants and fruits have received names associating them with animals

are so often inexplicable, that the inappropriateness in the meaning

does not necessarily give good grounds for believing that the word is

an etymological corruption.

So, the inappropriateness of the meaning in the -  NURSE!

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Got mine from Jacques Briant last year, and they are growing well- can't find them in the catalogue- maybe try

http://www.graines-baumaux.fr/

Look under petits fruits/Groseilliers/ they have

GROSEILLIER à MAQUEREAUX HINNONMAKI JAUNE

fruits

jaune foncé un peu vert, sucrés et parfumés, à la saveur légèrement

abrictotée, grosse production en juillet. Très résistante aux maladies

et au froid. 1 plante en pot de 2 litres.

Réf : 8363

Prix : 9,90 €

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