Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: paul.fr on 13/05/2007 22:18:41
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When i was younger, last year!, i always remember being told that dandylions makes you wee. More urgently, that they made you wet the bed!!!
How do dandylions make you wee, or is it some myth to make kids be good?
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In modern French the plant is called pissenlit, which means "urinate in bed", apparently referring to its diuretic properties.
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I've come across the word "pissenlit" somewhere (scratches head) [???]
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The thing I find odd about this is that the French (like the English and others, especially in rural areas) eat dandelions as a salad vegetable. Fair enough, they are perfectly edible, if known to be slightly diuretic. What I can't understand is this; picture the scene a, happy fammily lunch and mother passes a bowl of greens to her child with the comment "More bedwetting dear?".
Is that an odd idea or what?
BTW, the English name dandelion is from the French "Dent de lion" ie Lion's tooth. A reference to the toothed edges of the leaves
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What I can't understand is this; picture the scene a, happy fammily lunch and mother passes a bowl of greens to her child with the comment "More bedwetting dear?".
Is that an odd idea or what?
Only in English, because we are not used to thinking of "bedwetting" as a noun, only as a verb. To someone who is used to using the same word as a noun and a verb, their brain will not normally associate the two unless it thinks carefully about it.
It would not suprise me (although I don't know French, so I don't know if it is so) if there would be a slight change in inflection/stress between the two uses of the word, if for no other reason but because of the change in context within the sentence.
French is anyway a very confusing language, with words changing their meaning simply based on the case gender in which it occurs.
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Enough Dandylion Wine and I'm sure it will cause bedwetting [;)]