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Bajan retronymy, or, der Sauerampfer, der es nicht ist
I thought I'd written about retronyms here before, particularly in the context of the Americas, but if so I can't find the entry. (Surprising, because it really is one of my favourite topics in lexicography.) In any case, a rather confusing new example came down the pike recently: One of my co-workers is from Barbados (in the Lesser Antilles). When I mentioned that there was an African/Caribbean market near me where we'd managed to find jugo de naranja agria for mojo criollo, she asked me to keep an eye peeled next time I visited for "sorrel".
I was intrigued; I've never really heard of anyone cooking with sorrel outside of northern Europe (particularly Germany and Latvia) so I asked her what the Barbadians used it for. "Oh, we make a drink out of it." Really? Must be awfully sour! "No, it's kind of sweet." Hmmm....I described to her the plant I was thinking of--herbaceous, low-growing, wide leaves--and, sure enough, it didn't match the woody shrub she was thinking of at all.
About a week later, she appeared while I was at the front desk and said "roselle". Huh? Oh, right, so it's not common sorrel at all, but a species of hibiscus. And so the drink made from it is just a Caribbean version of good old jamaica, the sweet tea of Mexico. Nice to have that cleared up before I decided to experiment with Sauerampfertee on my own!
I was intrigued; I've never really heard of anyone cooking with sorrel outside of northern Europe (particularly Germany and Latvia) so I asked her what the Barbadians used it for. "Oh, we make a drink out of it." Really? Must be awfully sour! "No, it's kind of sweet." Hmmm....I described to her the plant I was thinking of--herbaceous, low-growing, wide leaves--and, sure enough, it didn't match the woody shrub she was thinking of at all.
About a week later, she appeared while I was at the front desk and said "roselle". Huh? Oh, right, so it's not common sorrel at all, but a species of hibiscus. And so the drink made from it is just a Caribbean version of good old jamaica, the sweet tea of Mexico. Nice to have that cleared up before I decided to experiment with Sauerampfertee on my own!