3 ms·

In German, lemons are still citrons (Zitronen), while Limone applies to limes only and there is no such thing as a distinct concept of a lemon (which may or may

In German, lemons are still citrons (Zitronen), while Limone applies to limes only and there is no such thing as a distinct concept of a lemon (which may or may not explain the fame of German engineering ;-) ).

ginko 3y ago
Limes are called Limette in German. Limone refers to lemons in general although it's seldomly used. (Guess there might be regional differences to the use though)
- masswerk 3y ago
  Yes, where I come from, Limette has been the traditional name, but it has been mostly replaced by "Limone", when it comes to supermarkets, etc. I guess, these are pretty much interchangeable now.
samstave 3y ago
Funny how we call bad cars "lemons" and there is a car called 'Citron'
- zabzonk 3y ago
  presumably you mean "citroen"? in which case this is from the companies' founder's surname, and is french, and is not the name of a car but of a brand.
  - samstave 3y ago
    Ah, I was wrong. Thank you/
  - dmurray 3y ago
    Yes, and Mr Citroën was named after the fruit. Or more precisely, his grandfather, a grocer, was named after it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Citro%C3%ABn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Citro%C3%ABn
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  The usage for "defective or poor-quality product" pre-dates automotive use. Apparently Volkswagen originated the term with respect to automobiles through a 1960s campaign (see: <https://www.madx.digital/learn/lemon-volkswagen-ad https://www.madx.digital/learn/lemon-volkswagen-ad>), and George Akerlof's "The Market for Lemons" (1970, Nobel prize awarded in 2001).<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons> Relying on Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile)> Google's Ngram Viewer tends to support the timeline: <https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lemon+car&year_start=1919&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lemon+car&year...>
xg15 3y ago
German Wikipedia calls citron "Zitronatzitrone", which to this day I had never heard before. TIL indeed.

ginko 3y ago

Limes are called Limette in German. Limone refers to lemons in general although it's seldomly used. (Guess there might be regional differences to the use though)

masswerk 3y ago
Yes, where I come from, Limette has been the traditional name, but it has been mostly replaced by "Limone", when it comes to supermarkets, etc. I guess, these are pretty much interchangeable now.

samstave 3y ago

Funny how we call bad cars "lemons" and there is a car called 'Citron'

zabzonk 3y ago
presumably you mean "citroen"? in which case this is from the companies' founder's surname, and is french, and is not the name of a car but of a brand.
- samstave 3y ago
  Ah, I was wrong. Thank you/
- dmurray 3y ago
  Yes, and Mr Citroën was named after the fruit. Or more precisely, his grandfather, a grocer, was named after it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Citro%C3%ABn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Citro%C3%ABn
dredmorbius 3y ago
The usage for "defective or poor-quality product" pre-dates automotive use. Apparently Volkswagen originated the term with respect to automobiles through a 1960s campaign (see: <https://www.madx.digital/learn/lemon-volkswagen-ad https://www.madx.digital/learn/lemon-volkswagen-ad>), and George Akerlof's "The Market for Lemons" (1970, Nobel prize awarded in 2001).<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons> Relying on Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile)> Google's Ngram Viewer tends to support the timeline: <https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lemon+car&year_start=1919&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lemon+car&year...>

xg15 3y ago

German Wikipedia calls citron "Zitronatzitrone", which to this day I had never heard before. TIL indeed.