Great article! Interesting aside about the 'Ghost Pepper' (Bhut Jolokia) referred to in the article, a former world record holder for hottest chilli pepper, na

Great article! Interesting aside about the 'Ghost Pepper' (Bhut Jolokia) referred to in the article, a former world record holder for hottest chilli pepper, native to Northeast India: the 'ghost' (bhut) label arises from a fun linguistic misunderstanding. Using IAST notation/Devanagari, the 'bhut' is actually 'bhōṭ/भोट' (which means 'Bhutanese' in this context, from the Sanskrit for 'Tibet'), not 'bhut/भुत' or 'bhūt/भूत' (which means ghost/spirit, from the Sanskrit for 'past'). So Bhut Jolokia actually means 'Bhutanese Pepper', which is decidedly less interesting than 'Ghost Pepper'; hence (probably) the popularity of the latter meaning. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bhut%20jolokia https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bhut%20jolokia