# Brazil Nuts...more infamous name **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737 "2002-05-07T16:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/1 "2002-05-07T16:23:38Z")
Okay, my co-worker has a question. Brazil nuts have a slang name…more infamous and politically incorrect than I’d like to repeat. Where and when did this practice/name originate - anyone have any ideas? Tibs. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/2 "2002-05-07T16:32:00Z")
I’m assuming the term you’re hesitant to use is _nigger toes_. That’s the one I’ve heard. The derivation has always been pretty obvious to me. Brazil nuts still in their shells are very dark brown, and though a little large for the comparison to be exactly accurate, they are of roughly the same shape as, say, a pinkie toe, which is to say somewhat triangular leading to a point. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/3 "2002-05-07T16:36:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Where and when did this practice/name originate Sorry, **Tibs**. Read right over that. According to _Cassells’s Dictionary of Slang_, the term originated in US in the mid-1800s to describe a type of potato and by the late 1800s had come to refer to Brazil nuts or walnuts. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/4 "2002-05-07T17:45:33Z")
I’m trying to figure out what type of potato. As has been noted the brazil nut has somewhat of a reasonable shape to represent a toe. Must be something like you see in the papers **“Man finds potato that looks like Rush Limbaugh”**. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/5 "2002-05-07T18:22:58Z")
Heh. Thank you for your help, **KneadtoKnow**. She (Louise, my co-worker) is always amazed at how quickly things get answered here. I should get her registered. Tibs. And **Kniz** ,…we could have a Rush Limbaugh nut. Oh wait, that’s redundant. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/6 "2002-05-07T19:12:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > **I’m trying to figure out what type of potato.** Perhaps a fingerling? err… a toeling? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brazil-nuts-more-infamous-name/107737/7 "2002-05-08T01:13:27Z")
To add to the Cassell, it was cited first in 1853 thusly: > [@](#): > > Some of the more approved [kinds of potatoes] are…the Niggertoe, the Meshannock, the Cumberland Kempt. The nut usage appeared first in print in 1896 although the references would indicate it was a common term for Brazil nuts as far back as the Civil War.