Americans, Canadians, Fruits, and Vegetables

While I agree with Rob in principle that all folks living in the Americas are Americans, language doesn't always adhere to science.

Yes. It is easy to get caught up in technicalities that do not reflect daily realities. I know it is easy because I get caught up in it sometimes.

Take “fruits” and “vegetables”.

One of the vegetables one might commonly buy is tomatoes. But tomatoes are not vegetables, they are fruits. Maybe you make a sandwich with tomatoes and another “vegetable”, the avocado. But avocados aren’t vegetables either; the avocado is a fruit too.

Maybe you decide to have some berries after your sandwich. But you’ve already had a berry; the avocado fruit is botanically a berry. You ignore that and decide to have some strawberries. Oops, strawberries aren’t berries; they are pseudocarps.

You give up on having berries and have a banana, with some nuts. Except that botanically, a banana is a berry. And the cashews you add are not nuts, they are drupes, and the peanuts are not nuts, they are legumes.

You get frustrated by all of this and try to explain it to your “American” friend who was born and raised in Vancouver and carries a Canadian passport. When you tell him he is American he takes offence and says,

“Next you will tell me that the president of France is not “French” but is instead “European” like the chancellor of Germany who is not “German” but “European”!”.