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 #2 (permalink) Sun Oct 12, 2003 8:05 am Prickles? |
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| Maybe, it's because a goosberry has prickles and therefore nobody wants to touch it - so a person nobody wants to work or deal with is like a goosberry. Just my musing... |
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Savvythought
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Joined: 01 Oct 2003
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Location: Canada
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| #3 (permalink) Sun Oct 12, 2003 8:48 am Origin obscure... |
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| Advoca wrote: |
Can anyone tell me why the word goosebery is used when describing the behiour of a third person pushing into the company of a couple who want to be alone?
Why gooseberry? |
An interesting one!
Most of my reference books don't seem to have much on this expression and simply say «origin obscure», which means they don't know!
The only explanation I've come up with is that «gooseberry» was a euphemism for the devil and clearly this would make sense.
The devil is naturally an unwanted third party.
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Alan
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Location: UK
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| #4 (permalink) Tue Oct 14, 2003 18:41 pm Gooseberry |
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:)
*laugh*
If gooseberry is an euphemism for the devil, I would like to be one.
Best wishes
:twisted: teufelchen53 |
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Teufelchen53
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 39
Location: Bonn, Germany
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| #5 (permalink) Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:22 pm Meaning of Gooseberry |
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| I like this "new word". I'm sure it will be useful :-)) |
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 Immanet
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| #6 (permalink) Thu Jun 24, 2010 18:43 pm Meaning of Gooseberry |
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I have also come across the suggestion that 'gooseberry' is a euphemism for the devil.
Another suggestion is that 'gooseberry picking' was an act that a chaperone might ostensibly have been involved in. in order to offer the two sweethearts a little privacy. It seems that an early 19Century term for a chaperone was 'gooseberry -picker.'
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Beeesneees
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| #7 (permalink) Thu Jun 24, 2010 19:53 pm Meaning of Gooseberry |
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Or - A gooseberry stands out because it is sour........
another one (which nobody really knows) is ..........
Why is a 99(ice cream) called a 99?
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Political Lurker
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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Posts: 1925
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Beeesneees
Language Coach
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Location: UK, born and bred
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| #9 (permalink) Thu Jun 24, 2010 21:41 pm Meaning of Gooseberry |
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Crikey I thought you had it for a minute Bev
Best I heard so far was some Italian leader had some special guard of 99 men so 99 signified special - My useless guess is someone just thought "99 is a big number" lets use that - which meant it had absolutely nothing to do with the flake. :-)
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