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Maybe some of the confusion on plum/prune definition could be
explained by a comment from Bob Andersen, retired stone fruit breeder out of Cornell.
Perhaps the terminology is changing (at least in the east) to remove
the term "prune" applied to fresh market plums. The comment was
written several years ago.
Of course it's pointless to be dogmatic on
definitions. Ultimately a word is defined (or redefined) by consensus of
the speaker and the hearer. For instance, it seems silly that an
Englishman would use the term "a flat battery" (tires go flat, not
batteries). But if I'm talking to a Brit, and he mentions his battery is
flat, I know he's trying to tell me he has a dead battery, and
probably needs a jump. He defines the word differently than I, and
that's OK.
Bob
Andersen:
"It used to be
that [eastern] USA fruit growers called European-type plums prunes even if the
fruit was sold fresh and not dried. Now most plum
marketers strongly believe that the word prune has negative connotations to most
consumers. They have done market research that reveals that
prune is associated with old, and we all know old is bad (tongue in
cheek)."
Reference:
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/andersen/New%20England%20Stone%20fruit%20varieties.do.htm
Mark
KS
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