I’ve called this vegetable Brussel Sprouts my entire life. So did my family.
Until today in my sixties
Brussels Sprout
My head hurts looking at it.
We call that a “bank barn” in Ohio.
Fortunately for the common language, that article refers exclusively to brussel sprouts at every mention, which is a whole whopping number of them.
I think you’ll find that in ordinary conversation, an American would naturally find themselve referring to a “brussel sprout” if for some reason they were indicating a single one, even though “brussel sprouts” would be generic for a serving or a package of the vegetable. You and me and everybody else would be correct both ways in our usage our entire lives.
The s is silent in Brussels. That leads to confusion in spelling. I doubt I’ve written that word more than a few times in my life.
It doesn’t really matter unless it’s a published article.
My grocery list doesn’t need to be perfect.
Not really. It’s just that the “s” in brussels butts up against the “s” in “sprouts,” so unless you make a concerted effort to stop there to enunciate, the inclination is to elide the esses. At least that’s my take.
Yeah, I’ve always assumed (and Wikipedia confirms) that they’re named after the city of Brussels, Belgium, so I don’t understand why anyone would think they would be called Brussel sprouts.
Is anything else named Brussel? [A bit of quick Googling later…] Not in English, apparently, although is it the name of the city in Dutch and German (with an umlaut over the U).
I’m pretty sure that, as a kid, I heard of Brussels sprouts before I heard of Brussels, Belgium. And, as @pulykamell noted, it’s easy to miss that there are two s’s, not one.
Actually, there are five.
I’ll see myself out.
English is like that. An ‘eke name’ becomes a ‘nickname’. And lots other similar examples.
I was a week short of my fifth birthday. It was Christmas Eve and I learned for sure there was no Santa. I saw, though a crack in the ktchen curtains, my mom putting away the milk and cookies. So I figured there wasn’t any Easter Bunny either. But I didn’t say anything, as I didn’t want to spoil presents or chocolate.