The Great Mango Mystery Solved - Thank God for the Interwebs!

[Standing Wolf]

Growing up in Indiana, I and everyone I knew referred to bell peppers as "mangoes". My maternal grandparents were from Ohio and Wisconsin, and they called bell peppers "mangoes", as well. I asked my father-in-law, also from Ohio and in his seventies at the time, and he confirmed the usage in his day.

For years, people whom I have met (and, in at least one case, married) have thought I was crazy or making it up. Now comes proof from the interwebs that there is a quasi-logical reason for this semantic mix-up.

http://www.word-detective.com/2009/04/mango/

[Hal Jordan]

Growing up in Indiana, I and everyone I knew referred to bell peppers as "mangoes". My maternal grandparents were from Ohio and Wisconsin, and they called bell peppers "mangoes", as well. I asked my father-in-law, also from Ohio and in his seventies at the time, and he confirmed the usage in his day.

For years, people whom I have met (and, in at least one case, married) have thought I was crazy or making it up. Now comes proof from the interwebs that there is a quasi-logical reason for this semantic mix-up.

http://www.word-detective.com/2009/04/mango/

I hadn't heard of that before. Quite interesting.

[texan]

Pretty cool trivia.

Change your name to Steppenwolf.

[sachem]

I always say these forums are educational.

[HoneyBadger]

I always say these forums are educational.

But unlike this case, usually not in a good way.

[sachem]

But unlike this case, usually not in a good way.

There are some things I would rather not know, but usually that is personal info.

[FindersKeepers]

Growing up in Indiana, I and everyone I knew referred to bell peppers as "mangoes". My maternal grandparents were from Ohio and Wisconsin, and they called bell peppers "mangoes", as well. I asked my father-in-law, also from Ohio and in his seventies at the time, and he confirmed the usage in his day.

For years, people whom I have met (and, in at least one case, married) have thought I was crazy or making it up. Now comes proof from the interwebs that there is a quasi-logical reason for this semantic mix-up.

http://www.word-detective.com/2009/04/mango/

That's interesting. At first I thought maybe it was phonic confusion with tomatoes "matoes," and a confusion of fruits and veggies in general. I never would have guessed it morphed the way it did from pickling in general to pickled peppers and then to plain old peppers.

I'm growing mangoes in my garden! In Kansas. Imagine that!

[Standing Wolf]

I was blithely unaware of our collective error until one evening, when I was about 18, I was having dinner at a friend's house. The family had recently moved to Indiana from Florida. There was a selection of uncooked veggies, and I happened to say something about really liking mangoes...to which the father of the family responded, "Mangoes my as****e!" So, of course, "Mangoes my as****e!" became an inside joke among my friends.

[waltky]

A mango is a fruit...

... a bell pepper is a vegetable...

or as Granny would put it...

... ya don't know yer fruits...

... from yer vegetables.

[Standing Wolf]

Not entirely sure that peppers are veggies, actually. Cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, eggplant, tomatoes, avocado, peas and beans are all, botanically speaking, fruits. Not that there's anything wrong with that.