To wonder why.. (brace yourself)

[BackAgainSlimLady]

Single cucumbers from the supermarket come wrapped in plastic.. but single courgettes don’t?

if you ask me.. courgettes have a slightly more fragile skin that cucumber.. so why the lack of protection?

Oh, and last I checked, this is an International site that even uses an American domain address, not .co.uk

No, this is a UK based forum but we allow the occasional well behaved contributors from overseas. You're on a yellow card 😝

I'm quote enjoying the thread! Genuine question - what would you call what in the UK would be called a marrow?

In Italian it would be zucca and I think in French it's courge (zucchina and courgette being little zuccas/courges).

French and English - Courgette

Italian/American - Zucchini

And don't assume that because you use the word in America it is written in stone that that is the only word used!!!!

@ExcessiveNumberOfNinjas It’s sweet potato in Australia. Available in yellow/orange, white and purple. I think kumara is different. New Zealand might use kumara.

We have three main types of cucumbers in Australia: continental cucumbers (the plastic wrapped ones), Lebanese cucumbers and apple cucumbers. There’s also small versions of Lebanese cucumbers called baby cucumbers or Qukes.

Yes peppers are called capsicums. Small hot things are chillis or chilli peppers.

Ha ha! I thought that

Don't you mean 'sin binned'?😈

Nah, that etymology is wrong. It does come from the Sanskrit via the Persian but it doesn't mean egg plant in those languages. Same etymology (but different result) as brinjal which is used in Indian English.

Yes it is! You get what you deserve, i.e. your just desserts.

Morrisons trialed not wrapping cucumbers a few years ago, it didn't go well and resulted in a load of food waste as the cucumbers went bad too quickly

A lot of the ou and re words in British English were changed as a cultural affectation in order to "Frenchify" them, whereas the US usage stuck with the original spellings (center, color etc).

Mmm...Morecambe Bay shrimps, lovely.
And we use 'shrimp' to mean a small person.

To answer the original question, cucumbers are the spawn of the devil and come wrapped in plastic for your own protection. Without it, they would make everything in your fridge taste of soggy bland. With the bland only building in strength every day it was left uncovered. If it is wrapped, even though you purchased the thing, you still have the chance to come to your senses, bin it, and save yourself . . .

I'm sceptical that they're not also called courgettes in the US - I'm sure Prince sang about having a little red one anyway 🤔

Don’t start that again 🤣

Yes, but it's spelt deserts, that's the point! Nothing to do with pudding.

Maybe they are in some states, perhaps the ones that started out as French colonies?

It is a joke relating to a thread yesterday. When a poster said it was just "desserts" to correct the OP, which then led to a whole pile of people saying the same despite loads of others saying "deserts" was indeed correct.

Surely it's because we cook courgettes and eat cucumber raw.

@MegTheForgetfulCat I don’t really recall seeing marrow sold here in Australia. I suspect we’d call them overgrown zucchinis that should be fed to the chooks and pigs. Independent greengrocers might sell them if there’s a high British population in the area.

@bridgetreilly

www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/just-deserts-or-just-desserts

Of course we're used to seeing it as a pun, cake shops etc.called 'Just Desserts'.

They never used to come in plastic. Then overnight something changed and they all did. I still have adjusted to the change.

I sometimes buy mini cucumbers. They tend to come in a sealed plastic bag. One cut up for a sandwich or two is just right and the rest stay fresh.

More expensive but possibly not if you end up throwing half of the big cucumber away.

No idea why they are wrapped but certainly makes it easier to remove a forgotten soggy end of cucumber from the salad drawer 😋

In the U.K. they’re courgettes. In America and very possibly elsewhere they’re zucchini.
Likewise there are different US words for what we call swedes, mangetout peas, and coriander.

Bananas - yes, in banana-producing countries like Brazil you'll often seen a few different varieties side by side. Banana importers only ever tend to import the Cavendish cultivars we see here.

On unit pricing vs weight for courgettes and cucumbers - I'm fucked if I know. To add to the confusion, apart from Lidl, everywhere around me sells courgettes in 3-packs!