 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004Gone to seed
What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or universal English?  SignaturePer Johansson > What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or > universal English? I like the second part of Per's question. Is there indeed a "universal" English? SignatureGood luck and good sailing. s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat http://kerrydeare.tripod.com > > What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or > > universal English? > > I like the second part of Per's question. Is there indeed a "universal" > English? Well, I was thinking as opposed to dialectal. That is, is this phrase used in certain locations only? SignaturePer Johansson >> What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or >> universal English? > >I like the second part of Per's question. Is there indeed a "universal" >English? Nah, universal English has gone to seed; we all speak the local variety. SignatureCharles Riggs Email address: chriggs¦at¦eircom¦dot¦net > What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or > universal English? From MWCD10 at www.m-w.com: - go to seed or run to seed 1 : to develop seed 2 : DECAY SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) www.geocities.com/opus731/ "Skitt" <skitt99@comcast.net> wrote in news:bumld1$j8kqc$1@ID- 61580.news.uni-berlin.de: >> What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or >> universal English? > > From MWCD10 at www.m-w.com: > - go to seed or run to seed 1 : to develop seed 2 : DECAY I believe the original reference is to a farmed field in which no effort has been made to prevent the female plants from being fertilized. SignatureMike Nitabach > I believe the original reference is to a farmed field in which no > effort has been made to prevent the female plants from being > fertilized. I learned from the Straight Dope today that you don't want to eat an apple grown from seed: If you took Pomology 101, you'd learn that apples don't "grow true" from seeds. An apple tree grown from a seed bears little resemblance to its parent, and the fruit normally is almost inedible, very sour or bitter. To get edible apples, you graft trees, producing a clone of a tree that you know bears tasty fruit, rather than plant from seeds. http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mjappleseed.html >> I believe the original reference is to a farmed field in which no >> effort has been made to prevent the female plants from being [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mjappleseed.html This may be true, but I doubt it has anything to do with the origin of the phrase "gone to seed". Here is my theory of the origin of the phrase: For some species of plants, unfertilized female plants are more desirable than if fertilized. In order to prevent fertilization, the farmer can either kill off the male plants (or sever the male reproductive organs, in the case of hermaphroditic plants), or cover the female reproductive organs so that the pollen cannot enter. If the farmer fails to do this, he has allowed the field to "go to seed"; it does not result in a desirable end product. Google searching on the phrase "go to seed" seems to support my theory. SignatureMike Nitabach -- Mike Nitabach Per Johansson spake thus: > What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or > universal English? It's a farming metaphor. It means that something is old and past its best. Some plants are grown for flowers or tubers - if you let them go to seed then they have grown older than the optimum. There is also the word "seedy" which means several things, amongst them old, worn out or shabby. Whether this is related, I do not know. I don't speak Universal English, but I will listen out for "gone to seed" the next time I watch Star Trek. Signaturethe Omrud === > Per Johansson spake thus: > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > them old, worn out or shabby. Whether this is related, I do not > know. I had understood it correctly then. However, my knowledge about farming is very limited, so I thank you for explaining the background. > I don't speak Universal English, but I will listen out for "gone to > seed" the next time I watch Star Trek. You might guess that my mother tongue is not English :-) SignaturePer Johansson > Some plants are grown for flowers or tubers - if you let them go to > seed then they have grown older than the optimum. In the case of vegetables, onions in particular, what happens is that they flower and produce seed prematurely, which takes strength from the bulb, reducing the value of the onion. Google on "onion "go to seed"" and you'll find lots of references. For example: http://www.texasgrown.com/pages/articles/onions.htm "Early planted seedlings that are not established at the first freeze could die. If the stem of the onion is bigger than a pencil at first freeze they will likely bolt and go to seed in the spring which produces an onion that has a smaller bulb size, less weight, and shorter shelf life." http://www.nebsusag.org/newsletters/garden54.htm "Believe it or not, the smaller sets will usually give you the larger cooking onions. They are less likely to bolt, or go to seed, and therefore put more energy into growing a large bulb." Main Entry: 2 bolt Function: verb Date: 13th century intransitive senses [1 - 4] 5 : to produce seed prematurely SignatureJohn Varela (Trade "OLD" lamps for "NEW" for email.) I apologize for munging the address but the spam is too much. > What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or > universal English? In passing, ???? ('gone') is Greek for generation, seed. SOED5, with no regional marking, has go to seed, grow to seed (a) (of a plant) cease flowering as seeds develop; (b) /fig./ become habitually unkempt, ineffective, etc.; deteriorate. SignatureMartin Ambuhl >What's the meaning of the phrase "Gone to seed"? Is it local or >universal English? It seems to have too meanings: 1. At the child-rearing stage rather than looking for a spouse. As in a plant, no longer blooming. 2. As a result of 1, not caring about one's appearance in order to be attractive to the opposite sex, thus "letting oneself go". In the case of males, shaving every 5 days, 5 days' breakfast visible on one's tie (if worn). SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.