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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Husband and vegetables

53 replies

WelcomeHere · 27/01/2022 18:23

My husband uses the words "cauliflower" and "broccoli" interchangeably. When I get confused because he's referred to some broccoli as cauliflower, he reacts as if I'm being pedantically over-specific, as if he'd said "potato" and I'd replied, "do you mean maris piper?"

AIBU to call a cauliflower a cauliflower?

OP posts:
Useranon1 · 27/01/2022 20:24

Does he think they're the same but different colours?

chesirecat99 · 27/01/2022 20:45

@Shuffletime

Tbf he's only slightly incorrect. Cauliflower and broccoli are the same species. As are cabbage and Brussel sprouts.

Kinda like different breeds of dog, same species, same basic DNA but different characteristics.

Kale, kohl rabi, collard greens, all the different fancy types of cabbages/cauliflowers/kales/broccolis and wild mustard too! All of them are cultivars of the same species. As Shuffletime says, like dog and cat breeds, they were bred by humans to select for different attributes but they are actually all the same species. So if he calls them all Brassica oleracea, he will be correct Grin

So, in theory, you could collect seeds from a cauliflower plant and get broccoli if they have been cross-pollinated. In reality, you'll probably get something that isn't very tasty with attributes of both. If you want to get cauliflower seed that produces cauliflowers, they have to be taken from cauliflowers grown in isolation.

Brassica rapa, another species in the same genus, includes the cultivars rapeseed/canola, pak choi, mizuna, Napa (or Chinese) cabbage, tatsoi and... turnips!

Apples are the same, all the different types of apple, eg Granny Smith and Braeburn, are cultivars of the same species. Apple cultivars are grown by taking cuttings, not from seed, so every Granny Smith apple tree is actually a clone of the original Granny Smith tree. If you grow a seed from a Granny Smith apple, you won't get a Granny Smith apple tree.

NewYearCalavicci · 27/01/2022 20:45

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog

One of these days he will have tried your patience once too often and bam! Patio.
Wooded raised foor decking surely GrinGrin
chesirecat99 · 27/01/2022 20:56

@Useranon1

Does he think they're the same but different colours?
That's exactly what they are. The same species but they look different! Just like people, one of them is a tall brunette, the other is a short blonde.
StillWeRise · 27/01/2022 20:58

has he ever come across a kalette?

Hankunamatata · 27/01/2022 20:58

Eh they are two different vegetables, he is odd.

cheekychaplin · 27/01/2022 21:00

@debwong

Husband and vegetables... I thought this was going to be some recipe ideas.

I thought it was going to be one for the sex topic Grin

Useranon1 · 27/01/2022 21:02

@chesirecat99 same species is not same vegetable!

endlesssighing · 27/01/2022 21:05

Am I your DH in another life?

I know what I mean in my head and genuinely expect other people to think the same. My husband (and children) speak endlesssighing fluently to the point it’s barely even English anymore

PeeAche · 27/01/2022 21:13

How can you stand to sleep next to this man?

halfsiesonapotnoodle · 27/01/2022 21:15

Just call his penis a chipolata. It won't matter, surely?

Toasterandjam · 27/01/2022 21:15

This is hilarious! Prunt out some photos of both and put some labels underneath and put on your fridge under the heading 'identification'!!!😂Or make him an individual of that well known dish Broccoli Cheese and say sorry I thought the 2 were the same!!😂🤣

chesirecat99 · 27/01/2022 21:47

Yes but no, @Useranon1! Grin

I was following on from Shuffletime's post that I quoted that he wasn't totally incorrect...

But he would be 100% correct to think (as you posted) they're the same but different colours?. They are both flower buds of the same species. They are just like a red rose compared to a yellow rose. Or a blonde person compared to brunette.

When I get confused because he's referred to some broccoli as cauliflower, he reacts as if I'm being pedantically over-specific, as if he'd said "potato" and I'd replied, "do you mean maris piper?"

Maris Piper is a potato cultivar so using the names brocolli and cauliflower is as pedantically specific as differentiating between Maris Pipers and Jersey Royals. He's wrong though because he's calling the Maris Pipers King Edwards.

Useranon1 · 27/01/2022 21:51

@chesirecat99

Yes but no, *@Useranon1*! Grin

I was following on from Shuffletime's post that I quoted that he wasn't totally incorrect...

But he would be 100% correct to think (as you posted) they're the same but different colours?. They are both flower buds of the same species. They are just like a red rose compared to a yellow rose. Or a blonde person compared to brunette.

When I get confused because he's referred to some broccoli as cauliflower, he reacts as if I'm being pedantically over-specific, as if he'd said "potato" and I'd replied, "do you mean maris piper?"

Maris Piper is a potato cultivar so using the names brocolli and cauliflower is as pedantically specific as differentiating between Maris Pipers and Jersey Royals. He's wrong though because he's calling the Maris Pipers King Edwards.

But a broccoli is not a green cauliflower! It's not like red rose yellow rose, it's more like mixed sex siblings - the son is not just a boy version of the daughter. They're from the same family so have similarities, but are different.
femfemlicious · 27/01/2022 21:53

I told my daughter cauliflower is white broccolli as she likes brocolli😁. Otherwise she wouldnt have even tried it

Ladybird11 · 27/01/2022 22:13

All joking aside..might he be dyslexic? Quite common for dyslexics to struggle to get the right word..

chesirecat99 · 27/01/2022 22:24

But a broccoli is not a green cauliflower! It's not like red rose yellow rose, it's more like mixed sex siblings - the son is not just a boy version of the daughter. They're from the same family so have similarities, but are different.

No, they are exactly like a red rose and a yellow rose or people with different coloured hair or eyes etc.

Your example of siblings is the equivalent of 2 cauliflowers grown from seed from the same parent plant. Cauliflower and broccoli are like 2 human beings using the same analogy. Cauliflower and broccoli can make little caulicolli babies together that may or may not look or taste like one of their parents.

TroysMammy · 28/01/2022 06:44

@StillWeRise I'd forgotten about those, blown sprouts. I grew them a few years ago so I may consider growing them again this year.

dynamitegirl · 28/01/2022 06:51

Until he started school and was on the yellow table, DS confused yellow and purple and until we started getting hedgehogs in the garden when he was about 7 he confused hedgehog & squirrel. By these ages, he was well past toddler cute speech mistakes and it used to drive me to distraction so I can share your pain. Actually, I can feel frustration rising as I type. FFS - one of our neighbours had both a purple car and a purple front door so he plenty of purpleness in his life and the sun is yellow so a useful point of reference if you're doubting yourself.

Darbs76 · 28/01/2022 06:57

Of course he’s being unreasonable - they are not the same vegetable!

LaMadrilena · 28/01/2022 07:04

My DH does this with celery/leeks. I mean, they're not even close...

Earbogeys · 28/01/2022 07:12

Dyslexia possibly

Original poster
WelcomeHere · 28/01/2022 07:16

Definitely not dyslexia. He simply doesn’t accept that they’re two meaningfully different things.

OP posts:
BABAHOTEL · 28/01/2022 07:28

@anothersmahedmug

Is he colour blind ?
😂
HoliHormonalTigerlilly · 28/01/2022 08:35

🤣