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

Entry: The Pomegranate - 'Jewel of Winter' - A12525987
Author: Galaxy Babe - Scout/ACE/Sub-Ed - U128652

My latest fruit entry - will add some more links tomorrow

Submitted 18 June

the Venetian queen, Dido --> the Phoenician queen, Dido

'Aristotelian philosopher Theophrastus (c372 - 287 BC), the 'father of Taxonomy',...'

This sobriquet is more usually, and more appropriately attributed to Linnaeus. I would be happier with 'a founder of the science off botany' for Theophrastus.

Thanks both

Updated

Pedantic nitpick alert, GB, sorry.

Dido was her Greek name. Her Phoenician name is Elissar or Elissa....

http://phoenicia.org/elissardidobio.html

(another true for you )


W

OK, now for a full review.

Good stuff!

"including pomegranates; paintings of which adorned the walls of tombs, which depicted the life of the deceased."
-- this doesn't quite work. It's not clear what depicted the life of the deceased, and whether actual pomegranates
were buried or just paintings of them.

Dido is very well known by that name, so if you are going to include her Phoenician name, I'd say you should do it in a footnote.

It's normal practice now to put links to other BBC pages as references, rather than introducting them with a sentence, so instead of:

"There are lots more recipes at BBC Food - Recipes"

you should have:


BBC Food Recipes


This section comes _after_ the tag.


Spelling and Punctuation:

"from September to November (in the Northern Hemisphere), and between March and May in the Southern Hemisphere" -- you've one of these in brackets and the other not.

"(23 - 79)" -- It's better to explicitly state AD for the small numbers.

This can vary by pomegranate variety, some are pink-blushed yellow; some are shades of red -- change the comma to a semcolon and the semicolon to a comma.

two meters tall --> two metres tall

Phrasing:

"sort of an anti-aphrodisiac" --> a sort of an anti-aphrodisiac

it is also mentioned in The Bible --> they are also mentioned in The Bible

than American varieties, also the fruit --> than American varieties, and the fruit

(or juice it yourself) with bananas --> (or juice it yourself), and with bananas

Updated

Although I'm not sure about "a sort of an anti-aphrodisiac"

How about "a sort of anti-aphrodisiac" then? In formal writing, you can't start a part of a sentence with "sort of".

Gnomon

The only thing I can spot is: "Due to its round shape and calyx, the pomegranate has a dubious connection to a weapon - the grenade was so-named because of its similarity to the fruit." - Am I missing something here? grenade is another name for a pomegranate? or a shortening of it? or what?

I've had pomegranate once in my life - it was worth it.

Pomegranate is pomme grenate (seedy apple). Grenade comes from the grenate part.

You're right, this could certainly be spelt out more clearly.

updated

Pomegranates are on sale in Tescos!

I've just read something about not displaying the ecipe links in the body of the text, so I'll move them as soon as I find out what I have to do with them

I'm waiting for clarification from Jimster on that point too. F47997?thread=3202951

Thank you Gnomon

I think they are supposed to go into the 'references' bit at the end, Annie. Summat to do with the PDA/mobile users. I can't remember where I read that though, sorry

W

I think so too, but it means I can't segregate the vegetarian options from the non-vegetarian, and I know some people would be offended to open such links.

I might change my recipes to just the vegetarian options

*goes back to writing while thinking about it*

This Entry reminds me of one of my earliest memories . When I was at primary school, the teacher brought in some pomegranates which she sliced up and gave each of us a slice to eat. Thius was part of an R.E. lesson, and was given as an example of a fruit that's grown in the Holy Land. I guess pomegranates must've still been quite an exotic fruit in my childhood, for the teacher to consider it worthwhile to bring one in

Dunno wheher you want to say anything about propagation, but this can be by seed, cuttings or layering.

P.S. A double-flowered variety of pomegranate is grown for decoration