# What does the word "Pamplamousse" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154 "2006-02-12T21:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/1 "2006-02-12T21:06:23Z")
This word popped into my head lthis morning while showering, and I can’t get rid of it. It’s got to mean something, but I have no specific memory of it. It doesn’t look as if it was one of the Banana Splits characters. Googling yields a French surname, but no object or popular character. Maybe I picked it up as a tyke in Abidjan. Does “pamplamousse” _mean_ anything? ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/2 "2006-02-12T21:07:49Z")
“Grapefruit” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/3 "2006-02-12T21:14:07Z")
> [@gaucho](#): > > “Grapefruit” Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/4 "2006-02-12T21:18:37Z")
Try “pamplemousse” with an e in the middle. Google returns 869,000 results. The occurrence that rings a bell for me is a character in a series of novels by Michael Bond. Detective turned undercover food critic, Monsieur Pamplemousse and his loyal dog Pommes Frites. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/5 "2006-02-12T21:32:16Z")
It’s my favourite french word. I’ll slip it into pretty much any conversation that involves even a bit of french. For example, if someone walks by me and says “Excuse-moi”, I’ll respond with, “De rien, pamplemousse”. It’s also a term of affection. I just love it. Paaaaampleeeemouuuuse! ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/6 "2006-02-13T00:23:15Z")
> [@Amaranta](#): > > It’s also a term of affection. I just love it. > > Paaaaampleeeemouuuuse! Me too! But what I really mean is that you’re round, fruity, and bitter inside. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/7 "2006-02-13T00:46:35Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > Me too! But what I really mean is that you’re round, fruity, and bitter inside. Or that you’ll spit in someone’s eye if they jab you with a spoon. ---
**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/8 "2006-02-13T03:33:33Z")
A little late on this one. — Former French Lit major here. (Way back in 1964.) And of course pamplemousse in French does translate to grapefruit in English----as so many have already stated. It does help to know how to spell words to find out anything. Ain’t most all languages a little stupid that way? ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/9 "2006-02-13T04:08:01Z")
> [@ombre3](#): > > A little late on this one. ? The main thing of course is that you got here. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/10 "2006-02-13T09:56:05Z")
Better even that pamplemousse is the french for pink grapefruit- pamplemousse rose! I like “Ananas” much better than “pineapple” too. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/11 "2006-02-13T10:32:20Z")
I love this french word too, it just seems so, silly I guess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/12 "2006-02-13T10:58:48Z")
> [@](#): > > _astro_ > This word popped into my head lthis morning while showering, and I can’t get rid of it. It’s got to mean something, but I have no specific memory of it. I have a vague memory of it being one of half a dozen words being used to illustrate the workings of one of those TV advertised memory systems. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/13 "2006-02-13T12:14:20Z")
I can never see that word (and being Canadian, I see it a _lot_,) without thinking of a mid-'70s National Lampoon parody of the prison-break novel/film [_Papillon_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070511/) with that title. Butterfly/Grapefuit. Much the same. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/14 "2006-02-13T12:37:06Z")
You may be thinking back to high school French, where a show called _Telefrançais_ included an infectious song about the fruit. The song, as near as I remember, was half-hearted attempts at rhymes during the verses, and a catchy chorus of: _Le Pamplemousse, le pamplemousse, le roi des fruits, le roi des fruits!_ …sung, confusingly, by Monsieur L’ananas, a Muppet-esque pineapple, and his chorus of other fruits, among which there was nary a grapefruit to be found. If one did not know what _le pamplemousse_ was, one would be forced to look at the chorus line and guess, and no matter what you guessed, you’d be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/15 "2006-02-13T14:21:32Z")
I’ve always considered _Pamplemousse_ one of my favourite French words. In hindsight I should have signed up here as _Monsseur Pamplemousse_. 🙂 I can’t seem to find the etymology of the word though – which I guess is a little difficult given that it’s in French. I was sort of curious about the _mousse_ (“Foam”) part, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. My Google-fu seems to be off, though I did glance past something about _Pamplemoes_ which may have been its original word. I also learned that the Pumelo, an ancestor of the Grapefruit, is also called _Pamplemousse_ – or perhaps it was originally called that and the same word just got applied to the pumelo’s decendents. Neither of these bits helped though. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/16 "2006-02-13T17:27:10Z")
You may know it from a bit on _The Simpsons_. Lisa accidentally goes to _West_ Springfield Elementary, and she walks into where her class should be. Instead of finding Miss Hoover, she finds a French teacher who is using it in a sample sentence: “La grenouille mange la pamplemousse” – The frog eats grapefruit. That’s the only place I’ve ever heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/17 "2006-02-13T17:55:23Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > You may be thinking back to high school French, where a show called _Telefrançais_ included an infectious song about the fruit. The song, as near as I remember, was half-hearted attempts at rhymes during the verses, and a catchy chorus of: > > _Le Pamplemousse, le pamplemousse, > le roi des fruits, le roi des fruits!_ > > …sung, confusingly, by Monsieur L’ananas, a Muppet-esque pineapple, and his chorus of other fruits, among which there was nary a grapefruit to be found. If one did not know what _le pamplemousse_ was, one would be forced to look at the chorus line and guess, and no matter what you guessed, you’d be wrong. Merci! I’ve been reading the thread and trying to fathom why, after five years of French classes, I thought it was a pineapple. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/18 "2006-02-13T18:02:00Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > _Le Pamplemousse, le pamplemousse, > le roi des fruits, le roi des fruits!_ Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how’d you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/19 "2006-02-13T18:30:47Z")
_Le roi est morte. Vive le roi!_ ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154/20 "2006-02-13T19:02:48Z")
_Légumes, Égalité, Fraternité!_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-word-pamplamousse-mean/344154.md?page=2)