# Different things that have the same name (where you live) and nobody gets confused **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739 "2021-01-17T16:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/81 "2021-01-18T23:10:03Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > But if you were trying to say that green bell peppers ( _Capsicum annuum_ ) are related to black ground pepper ( _Piper nigrum_ ) - they are completely different. > > So what _did_ you mean? I was trying to say that they were no more related to one another (and possibly much less) than green beans were to black beans. I didn’t know (and didn’t bother to look up) what relation if any there was between them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/82 "2021-01-18T23:49:12Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Green pepper ( with no _s_ ) is apparently what you call the result of grinding green peppercorns I mean, maybe in some places (after all, that’s the theme of the thread), but if I see something on a menu that says ‘with green pepper’ or ‘with green peppers’, it’s going to be unripe capsicums. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/83 "2021-01-19T00:39:30Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > But that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is that this is a green pepper: Oh, a capsicum. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/84 "2021-01-19T00:46:09Z")
Yup. But if you say ‘capsicum’ to most people around here, they’re going to say ‘huh?’ I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody call them that except in a botanical or agricultural technical reference. ETA: and, in that context, a lot of things are capsicums that aren’t green peppers. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/85 "2021-01-19T00:51:19Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Something a little closer to home is places named Vancouver. Unless one lives in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington area, most think of the city in British Columbia when they hear Vancouver. My daughter once drove to the Canadian border while heading to Vancouver. She actually needed the one in Washington. And there were 2 Lakewoods in Washington state, 82 miles apart, until one was changed to North Lakewood in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/86 "2021-01-19T01:10:59Z")
Lots of words/names in Hawaii. Yes, I know I’m not using the proper accents on the spellings. The most infamous is pupu/poo poo. “The party will have heavy pupus!” No Hawaii local will ever chuckle. I’ve never wanted to punch Tom Synder (The Tomorrow Show in the 70’s) more than than when he announced that the following morning’s show’s guest would be Reverend Abraham Akaka. Snyder chuckled as he asked the staff, if the Reverend’s name was really A kaka! Yes! You ass! And his brother Daniel Akaka was a highly regarded and respected U.S Senator. Poke - Pronounced po kay, not po key and always spelled with an ‘e’. No one says poke (as in slow poke) when they see poke spelled out. Usually raw seafood (there’s dried fish and cooked octopus poke) mixed with various ingredients from simple sea salt, kukui nut or soy sauce. I swear at one time there was a store named Slow Poke. There’s squid poke, but poke (rhymes with joke) squid is a euphemism for sex. Luau - while most people think of luau as a party or feast, luau means the leaves of the taro plant. So if someone says they’re going to have chicken or squid luau, that refers to a dish made with chicken or squid with luau leaves and coconut milk. If someone says they’re going to have luau (though it’s usually followed with leaves), it’s understood that it means the leaves, not a party. Tako/taco - Tako is Japanese for octopus and pronounced with a slight pause and emphasis on the Ta part of the word. Again, if someone says they’re going to have tako, it’s generally assumed it means octopus. Yes, no one really says they “Going to have taco”. Usually “a” taco or tacos. Grind/grinds\* - To eat (grind) or food, usually a lot of it (grinds). If you say, “I’m going to grind.”, usually said in pidgin English “I goin’ grind.”, it’s understood you’re going to eat. Same with “Good grinds”. The food was good and usually plentiful. Spock\* - Not the Dr. or Leonard Nimoy. Spock = to see. “You spock that girl?”\* = "Did you see that girl? ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/87 "2021-01-19T03:01:32Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Yup. But if you say ‘capsicum’ to most people around here, they’re going to say ‘huh?’ I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody call them that except in a botanical or agricultural technical reference. > > ETA: and, in that context, a lot of things are capsicums that aren’t green peppers. My point, perhaps badly expressed, is that in my variat of English what thorny\_locust calls “a green pepper” is “a capsicum”, so we don’t have his problem that “green pepper” and “black pepper” are not differently-coloured instances of the same thing, but two entirely different things. This is, come to think of it, analogous to the coriander/cilantro distinction that American English speakers make to disambiguate the seeds and the leaves of the same plant, which in other varieties of English are, in the culinary context, both called “coriander”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/88 "2021-01-19T03:02:00Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > At least around here, where black pepper is a little round spice sold either whole or ground, whereas green pepper is an unripe fruit (but classed as a vegetable) from an entirely different plant. In fact, a green pepper/bell pepper/sweet pepper is a chili. “Chili pepper” is an unfortunate misnomer that confuses everything. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/89 "2021-01-19T03:05:45Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Green pepper ( with no _s_ ) is apparently what you call the result of grinding green peppercorns I’d say that using ground green peppercorns is so rare in cooking foods common in the Anglo-American cultural sphere that it would demand much more context than just saying “green pepper.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/90 "2021-01-19T03:15:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I was trying to say that they were no more related to one another (and possibly much less) than green beans were to black beans. And that’s not true. Green (string) beans and black beans both come from bean plants—they are quite closely related. Wikipedia > **Green beans** are the unripe, young fruit of various [cultivars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivar) of the common bean ( _[Phaseolus vulgaris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_vulgaris)_ ). > The **black turtle bean** is a small, shiny variety of the [common bean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_beans) ( _Phaseolus vulgaris_ ) especially popular in [Latin American cuisine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_cuisine), though it can also be found in the [Cajun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_cuisine) and [Creole cuisines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_cuisine) of south Louisiana. Like all varieties of the common bean, it is native to [the Americas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Americas),[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_turtle_bean#cite_note-2) but has been introduced around the world. They are actually from cultivars of the _same_ species, the common bean _Phaseolus vulgaris_. One is picked while unripe; the other is picked when ripened. Green peppers are the fruit of the chili plant; black pepper is the seed of the pepper plant—they really are unrelated. As noted above, green peppers are from _Capsicum annum_ and black pepper is from _Piper nigrum_. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/91 "2021-01-19T03:17:47Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > thorny\_locust calls “a green pepper” is “a capsicum”, so we don’t have his problem psssst – her. Or their, if you can’t remember who’s which, which I usually can’t. > [@Acsenray](#): > > In fact, a green pepper/bell pepper/sweet pepper is a chili. Around here, only the hot ones are chilis. – the situation can be further confused by people who use “red pepper” to mean “hot pepper.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/92 "2021-01-19T03:19:14Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > And that’s not true. According to what you say, what I said is true: that **r(green pepper, black pepper) ≤ r(green beans, black beans)** where **r** denotes degree of relatedness. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/93 "2021-01-19T03:27:53Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Around here, only the hot ones are chilis. What I’m saying is that botanically it’s the exact same fruit from the same plant—just a different cultivar. And you can tell just by handling it. It has the same overall structure, texture, parts, etc. The main difference is the absence of enough capsaicin to trigger sensation of burning in the human body. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/94 "2021-01-19T03:30:35Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > And that’s not true. > > According to what you say, what I said is true: that > **r(green pepper, black pepper) ≤ r(green beans, black beans)** > where **r** denotes degree of relatedness. Oh good grief. I’m stumbling over negatives. Simple declarative sentences, please! For heavens sake, don’t make me math when I’m Englishing. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/95 "2021-01-19T03:35:09Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > the situation can be further confused by people who use “red pepper” to mean “hot pepper.” Around here, “red pepper” when it comes to pizza means “dried red chili flakes” and “red pepper” when it comes to Indian food means “cayenne chili powder,” also confusingly known as “ground cayenne pepper.” I think someone should become dictator and sort out the whole chili/pepper nomenclature fiasco. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/96 "2021-01-19T03:54:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > Around here, only the hot ones are chilis. > > What I’m saying is that botanically it’s the exact same fruit from the same plant—just a different cultivar. Isn’t this thread about the words being used, though? But maybe this is the reverse – the thread’s about different things that have the same name, and this bit of discussion is about the same things having different names. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/97 "2021-01-19T11:46:29Z")
I recently discovered that a _ **strainer** _ isn’t only a kitchen tool or a stream blockage. It can also refer to a fence tightening product, as I discovered while searching for a tool to tighten our fence wire. > **[Zareba® In-Line Wire Strainer - 1-Pack](https://www.zarebasystems.com/zareba-in-line-wire-strainer-ils2)** > > New > The Zareba® In-Line Wire Strainer increases the tension on the fence wire to about 250 lb. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/98 "2021-01-19T12:02:21Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Because in standard US English the spreading of asphalt or concrete over a prepared surface is to “pave it”. And the machine doing the spreading is a “paver”. Yep, in the United States, both the street and the sidewalk are “pavement” because they’re both paved. I wonder whether this makes it qualified for the OP’s category. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/99 "2021-01-19T12:08:37Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > There’s a thing that I call a spatula, which has a flexible blade meant for uses such as scraping bowls clean. > > And there’s a thing that I call a pancake turner, which is used in hot pans for turning pancakes, or eggs, or anything else in a hot pan which needs to be turned or to be scraped off the pan. > > To me, these are two distinct tools, though both of them exist in a batch of variations. I’ve run into people who call them both spatulas. I found that confusing, but the people who call them by the same name don’t seem to be confused by it. I couldn’t understand this post so I tried to look it up and the only thing I could find is that “spatula” could mean either the thing you use to flip foods being cooked in a frying pan or the thing you use to spread icing on a cake. I would call the former a spatula and the latter a spreader or maybe a cake knife. I’m not sure what this thing is that is used to scrape a bowl. Is it what I call a silicon scraper? ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2021, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739/100 "2021-01-19T12:21:25Z")
In the Czech Republic, where I now live, the expression for a fairy tale is “pohádka”. However, Czechs also use this word for animated cartoons. In my ESL lessons, I have to explain to students every now and then that films like “Toy Story” are not “fairy tales” in English. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-things-that-have-the-same-name-where-you-live-and-nobody-gets-confused/930739.md?page=6)