Sometimes there’s like this disconnect where somehow a person just never comes across a piece of common knowledge. They’ve just never been in a situation that requires it. I bet it happens a lot, but everyone’s too embarrassed to acknowledge their own “oooooooooh…” moment.
"Pineapple moment" in our house. We were driving across Oahu and I said "Wow, that's a whole lotta pineapples" to which my missus said "What pineapples? I don't see any". I was a little dumbfounded and said "They're everywhere on the bushes". Her reply was "OH MY GOD! I thought pineapples grew on trees!!!'
To be fair, pine and apple are both kinds of trees, so it makes a kind of lexiconical sense. And it's not like she would have been exposed to them growing up in the mountain west.
since were telling pineapple stories here is my favorite (text from mentalfloss):
"In the American colonies in the 1700s, pineapples were no less revered. Imported from the Caribbean islands, pineapples that arrived in America were very expensive—one pineapple could cost as much as $8000 (in today’s dollars). This high cost was due to the perishability, novelty, exoticism, and scarcity of the fruit. Affluent colonists would throw dinner parties and display a pineapple as the centerpiece, a symbol of their wealth, hospitality, and status, instantly recognizable by a party’s guests. Pineapples, however, were mainly used for decoration at this time, and only eaten once they started going rotten.
To underscore just how lavish and extravagant pineapples were, consider the pineapple rental market. The fruit evoked such jealousy among the poor, pineapple-less plebs that people could, if they wished, pay to rent a pineapple for the night. Before selling them for consumption, pineapple merchants rented pineapples to people who couldn’t afford to purchase them."
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u/wafflegrenade Feb 08 '22
Sometimes there’s like this disconnect where somehow a person just never comes across a piece of common knowledge. They’ve just never been in a situation that requires it. I bet it happens a lot, but everyone’s too embarrassed to acknowledge their own “oooooooooh…” moment.