h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Opti Interesting entry!

Just in case I miss this going through PR, I wanted to make a few suggestions:

'Kiwi' is a New Zealand Maori word meaning a native bird, or, colloquially, a New Zealander. The fruit you are writing about is called a 'kiwifruit' here and this name came about because of some clever marketing fellows in NZ who decided we couldn't sell 'Chinese Gooseberries' to the world.

'Chinese Gooseberry' was a generic name in NZ for all Actinidia chinensis fruits. It wasn't a name for a specific variety.

The name 'kiwifruit' was adopted fairly recently, off the top of my head I'd say in the 80s (we had a big kiwifruit boom here then) - at least common usage in NZ started then (the name may have been used in horticulture earlier). My understanding is that the term 'kiwi' used in the US was a result of that marketing strategy not that the US named the fruit after a NZ bird. I"d be interested to know which is true and what the source of the idea that the US named the fruit after the bird is.


Personally I, and many New Zealanders, find it very weird reading something like "Kiwis are not known to have many pests and diseases which affect them" because 'kiwi' in that sentence would be read as the bird. Ditto 'Kiwi margarita'



As an aside to that:

>>Kiwis are not known to have many pests and diseases which affect them. Possibly due to the fact very few are planted.<<

Kiwifruit in NZ are well known for requiring very little pesticide intervention. There is a large certified organic kiwifruit industry here because of this. In fact I have a feeling the whole industry was looking at going organic.



kea.

http://www.zesprikiwi.com/kiwi_name.htm

Yep, what she said

Kiwi = the bird (Apteryx), our national symbol

Most of us Pakeha call ourselves Kiwis
Our dollar is 'the Kiwi'
'The Kiwis' are our national rugby LEAGUE (not Union) football team

The fruit, native to China - first commercially cultivated here for international trade - is the kiwifruit.

One word, 9 letters, no hyphen, singular and plural - like

And yep... I know they're called 'kiwis' ALL around the (English speaking) world BUT the world is wrong and we are right

<SMILEY TYPE="jumpedUpAntipodean"/>

Apart from that wee rant... Cheers Opti! Great effort! Hope I don't sound bossy...




Of course, if you do edit accordingly (please do), then quite a few of your sentences will need a bit of re-jigging...



One suggestion... if you're going to mention the pips, I reckon it would be fitting to say that they're completely edible - they're pretty much the same texture as the surrounding flesh... no-one I know would dream of de-seeding a kiwifruit

Ooh! One more! I know the BBC frowns on commercial stuff, but something (brief) on the story behind the 'Zespri' brand name might be a worthwhile addition... just a thought

Also the plant here gets called a 'kiwifruit vine'.


The concise oxford dictionary calls it the kiwi fruit rather than the kiwifruit. What do you reckon the usual spelling is in NZ, six7s?

Google and I say kiwifruit is more common, here in NZ

903,000 hits for << "kiwifruit" nz >>
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=kiwifruit+nz&btnG=Search

113,000 hits for << "kiwi fruit" nz >>
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=%22kiwi+fruit%22+nz&btnG=Search

It's more common in general too:

1,620,000 for kiwifruit

http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=kiwifruit&btnG=Google+Search&meta=


631,000 for "kiwi fruit"

http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=%22kiwi+fruit%22&btnG=Search&meta=

To keep the dicussion all in one place, I've reposted my comments in the Writing Workshop thread F57153?thread=2980036