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It's the truth!

⁨694⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

https://media.piefed.world/posts/fZ/dk/fZdk4pcqhhYZcNS.jpeg

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Comments

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  • Denjin@feddit.uk ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Red Onions (and every other not-red food that’s called red) is older in the English language than the word “purple”.

    Purple is a relatively modern concept in English having first been used circa 900AD. Before that basically everything towards the magenta part of the spectrum was all just called red.

    See also Orange, the colour is named after the fruit and not the other way round.

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    • thomasloven@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It’s the same reason why ”Violets are blue”.

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    • Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      See also: ‘robin red breast’ to describe the European robin, which very clearly has an orange breast:

      A small brown and white bird with a very orange chest perched on a branch

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      • Zwiebel@feddit.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Lil-red-throat in German

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    • Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Before that basically everything towards the magenta part of the spectrum was all just called red.

      And before that we have people looking at colours entirely differently, like Homer calling the sea the colour of red wine.

      Which my Greek teacher would explain by saying “my pencil is the the same shade of yellow as your book is blue”.

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      • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Or perhaps Homer was colorblind?

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    • kopasu22@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The concept of purple is older than English, though. I guess when English chose to adopt it is the main question, but should be clarified that the term where “purple” derives from goes back to the ancient Romans, who recognized it as a distinct color used for royalty given the difficulty in obtaining it.

      It does have me wondering exactly when red onions first arrived in the UK, because the variety is native to southern Europe. And I wonder what the Romans called that type of onion, which was surely used there before those dirty Britons got their hands on it.

      I also know that, when boiled, they yield a very rich, red color. Could maybe be named “red” due to that? Some Orthodox Christians/eastern Europeans traditionally use red onions to dye eggs for Easter.

      Image

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    • undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I was always curious about this! I’m bilingual and I always get mixed up because they’re actually called “purple onions” in Spanish. I always forget which language calls it which, but knowing this is definitely helpful!

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    • SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      In Bangla, we call the color peyaji, which is basically “onion-y”. It’s also what we call onion fritters, and they’re absolutely delicious.

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      • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Yum, onion fritters!

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    • msage@programming.dev ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Wow, thank you!

      Now when people call me color-blind cause I don’t care about color matching or their names, I can just say I’m very old fashioned!

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  • FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Green onions are green but not onions!

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    • GladiusB@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      Not with that attitude

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  • Limitless_screaming@kbin.earth ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Red foxes are clearly orange. Black tea is clearly red. White grapes are clearly green.

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    • Warl0k3@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Black tea refers to the degree of oxidation of the tea leaves - yellow, white and green teas all do the same thing. Similarly, white grapes are called that because they produce white (clear) liquid (though it’s clearly yellowish so who knows).

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      • Limitless_screaming@kbin.earth ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Black tea refers to the visible degree of oxidation of the tea leaves

        Makes sense

        grapes are called that because they produce white (clear) liquid

        Even if it produced indisputably white liquid. Why not call it after its own color while tea is named after the color of its processed leaves?

        You'd expect tea which is thought of as a drink to be known for the color of the liquid, and grapes often eaten as is to be named after their color.

        But it doesn't really matter, any of these could've been named after whichever color they were at any point of their making / preparation. It's not like there's a convention or something

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        • -> View More Comments
    • WanderingThoughts@europe.pub ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      A black box is orange. A red panda is brown. A great white is mostly grey.

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  • wewbull@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    No. They are maroon.

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    • myster0n@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      No need to insult them

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    • ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Are you calling me a moron?!

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  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    What really breaks my brain is that the pigment responsible for this purple hue are called anthocyanins. It literally has the root-word for blue in the name, even though that’s not the only color it can make.

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  • workerONE@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Really blew my mind when I found out that red onions are just ripe white onions.

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    • Rooster326@programming.dev ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      That is not true?

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    • Hjalamanger@feddit.nu ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      WHAT!!

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  • shittydwarf@piefed.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Image

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  • halvar@lemy.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    In my language it’s called a purple onion

    and the we call white onions red

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  • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Blue cheese is almost entirely creamy-offwhite coloured.

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    • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It at least has some parts that are a blueish green.

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  • ceenote@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Grapes, too.

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  • blackbelt352@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If I pickle them in vinegar, they turn bright pink, if I alkalize them in baking soda, they turn blue, if I cook them slowly in butter they turn a deep brown color.

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    • worhui@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Red onion skin is part of kids science experiments about PH. I just did that experiment with my kids not long ago.

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  • Xanvial@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Yeah, my three years old kid really debating me about this. Insisting that it’s purple onions. Can’t really argue

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  • Tommelot@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    They’re in a red netting, obviously!

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  • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    BURN HIM!!!

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