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in English ; the original suffixion of the "a" was possibly excus- 

 able to distinguish the word from the six or eight other dissyl- 

 lables using "c," "o" and "a" in various combinations. 



Avocado. — Objection to this word is gradually dying down, 

 but, for some unknown reason, there still lingers in the minds of 

 thousands of people an apparent preference for the hideous name 

 "alligator pear" ; this is probably due, however, to the plebeian 

 shrinking from any foreign-sounding word, especially if it has 

 more than three syllables. It is said that the first use of the 

 abominable epithet was by one Jack Tar who had been allowed 

 shore leave somewhere in Central America where the days are 

 not alone in being hot, where alligators make lasting impressions, 

 and where some of the people still call the fruit "ahuacate," after 

 the old Aztec 'ahwacatl." Yet because on.e tired tongue refused 

 to encompass the full measure of the really euphonious avocado 

 is no reason why a perfectly good fruit, which ought long ago 

 to have been exceedingly popular, should continue to struggle 

 under such an opprobrious name. By the same token, many of 

 the avocado types have no more resemblance to a pear than to 

 a plum or pomegranate either in color or shape, to say nothing 

 of the interior. To illustrate the obstinate attitude of the retail 

 merchant, the writer recollects a case in Washington, District of 

 Columbia, where the disgusting sign "Fresh xVlligator Pears 

 Today" was flaunted in the people's face, year after year, al- 

 though the proprietor admitted that most of the purchasers of the 

 fruit asked for avocados. 



Mango. — The plural of this word is properly written without 

 an "e." There is no good reason for adding a useless "e" to 

 the other analogous foreign words which would not, when at 

 home, so to speak, be given such a decoration, viz, tomato, potato, 

 pomelo, chico, bauno, and, of course, avocado. 



Pomelo. — This good old word has been discountenanced in 

 most parts of the United States and a rather weird and quite 

 unreasonable substitute has been upheld, even by a few horti- 

 culturists. This substitute flourishes as "grapefruit," "grape- 

 fruit," and "grape fruit." There are two theories anent the 

 origin of this pseudonym : a gentleman at the Boston docks, com- 

 ing upon a sample package of pomelos from the West Indies, 

 and being quite unacquainted with the fruits, tested one and not 

 having in mind just then anything else with which to compare 

 the fruit declared that it reminded him of grapes (presumably 

 of the Frost variety). The other and perhaps more reasonable 

 theory is based upon a tourist's remark in passing some pomelo 

 trees for the first time in the Tropics : noting that the fruits were 

 sometimes clustered together near the ends of the branches he 

 innocently opined that in that character they reminded him of 

 grapes. The flavor, however, is so unlike that of any grape and 

 the clustering habit of the fruit is so inconstant and so unfami- 

 liar to 99 per cent, of the users of the fruit, that it is strange 



