Talk:Turnip (disambiguation)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Plants, an attempt to better organise information in articles related to plants and botany. For more information, visit the project page.
??? This article has not yet received a quality rating on the quality scale.
??? This article has not yet received an importance rating on the importance scale.

[edit] Article names

I propose that turnip (brassica rapa) be moved here, a disambiguation page in line with Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages) be created at turnip (disambiguation), and the details of regional usage be moved to American and British English differences, Scottish English, Malaysian English, Singaporean English, Wiktionary, or wherever appropriate. — Pekinensis 17:21, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Entirely disagree. That would be to prejudice one cultural history over against another. As things stand, any of us can type in the word and be led straight to a balanced explanation of where we need to go for which meaning. --Doric Loon 12:54, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Scottish usage

I lived in Scotland for a few years, and have several Scottish friends. I never heard any Scot call a Brassica rapa a "swede": the only time I ever heard or saw the phrase in Scotland was in an Edinburgh branch of Tesco's, where the swedes/yellow turnips/rutabagas were labelled "swede turnips" (presmably because Tesco's is an English supermarket). The Rutabaga page says the Scots call B. rapa "white turnips". — Franey 12:45, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Possibly because you don't see them in Scotland very often? --Doric Loon 12:54, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
So, do you call "white" turnips swedes? — Franey 13:38, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
Well, I think I do, but I can't remember ever actually eating one, so maybe I've just picked it up wrongly. What I do know for certain (and you aren't arguing this point, I know) is that this article is right about what Scots mean by turnip. --Doric Loon 15:02, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, I prefer the Scots usage: "turnip" is a much cooler word than "swede", and swedes (in the southern English sense) are bigger, cheaper, tastier, and much more "turnipy"-looking than their paler cousins. —Franey 16:32, 2 December 2005 (UTC).
I'm Scottish - we used to eat swedes (ie white turnips) a lot when I was younger. We always called them swedes and so did my mother, who would have been 83 if she were still alive. You're right, though, Doric Loon, you don't see them in the shops in Scotland v. often these days. I would only ever use them for soup though - "proper" neeps taste much better when mashed. --Bulgy's Quine 19:06, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
I too am Scottish, and as I was growing up called white turnips, turnips. However, we were always being reprimanded for this, as we were told that their real name was swede and that turnips were for pigs. --Bob 22:36, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
When I was a student I worked in Safeway. We had to do a course in identifying vegetables. We got to the turnips, and since I was always one to call a turnip a turnip, that is what I said it was. I got repremanded by my supervisor for not calling it a swede. For a while, I made a determined effort to complain to supermarkets who call a turnip a swede. I've never seen a swede that I wouldn't call a turnip --Colin Angus Mackay 16:29, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
I'm Scottish but have lived in England for the majority of my life. In my (wholly Scottish) family, the English tendency to sub-divide turnips was often held up as an example of the strange and arcane peculiarity of southerners; it is certainly not the case that the English always invert the Scottish terms therefore, in my experience. Hopefully wikipedia can make a profound contribution to this serious issue. Scotland: Where men are men and turnips are turnips. Badgerpatrol 18:22, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

The large one (Swede in RP) is called a "neep" in Scotland, but the small one (rapa) is called a "tumshie" traditionally. Swedes are proper "neeps". The name derives from Old Norse, not Old English in this case.--MacRusgail 16:02, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

All seems very confusing, but I don't think ANYONE can define what the the things are called in Scotland because it would seem that even Scottish people disagree. In my mind a 'turnip' AKA 'swede' AKA 'neep' is the big yellow/purple one and the small white one is called a 'white turnip', not that you ever really see them. I would have also said that a 'tumshie' was a yellow/purple turnip, but it the kind of word that I have only ever seen in Oor Wullie anyway! Now, I would argue with anyone who says that a white turnip should be called a swede. HOWEVER the fact that some people DO call it a swede means that we are not really going to get anywhere with a useful disambiguation page!

BTW I have just noticed that I can't get the tilde to work on this Japanese keyboard. I will come back and own up to these comments. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ewan carmichael (talk • contribs) 06:01, 12 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Neep

"Neep" is not a shortening of the English word "turnip", although the last syllable of "turnip" is cognate. The term derives from Old Norse. It is a common mistake to derive certain forms, e.g. "drucken" from corruptions of English ("drunken") without realising they derive from another language.--MacRusgail 16:07, 10 September 2006 (UTC)