Nonsense, cucumber and pumpkin

At dinner in the evening, Niu Bao Xiao looked at the pumpkin that James J.S.Wong had touched and asked a question: Why is it called pumpkin instead of cucumber?

To tell the truth, Dad Niu doesn't know either. However, everything happens for a reason. According to Occam's razor principle, unconventional views must be supported by unconventional evidence. Moreover, the origin of plant names is complicated, which is really not easy to understand. In that case, Dad Niu will have to simplify it.

Dad Niu solemnly told Bao Xiao Niu: This is because pumpkin was introduced to China later than cucumber, and the name cucumber has already been used, so we can only use other names.

Niu Bao Xiao is easily fooled, but he has no confidence in himself. After dinner, take out your mobile phone and ask Du Niang. Sure enough, cucumber was brought back from Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. Pumpkin is an American plant, which only entered China in the Ming Dynasty.

Speaking of pumpkins and cucumbers, let's talk about watermelons by the way.

Watermelon is not native to China, and we are not looking for biological evidence of when it was introduced into China.

Say it indirectly.

Today, I said to eat melons, but I didn't specify anything. Everyone knows that we mean watermelon.

It is recorded in the Book of Rites Qulishang that it was not easy for the ancients to eat melons according to Confucian norms. Cut the melon for the son of heaven, peel it and cut it into four pieces, then cross it from the middle, cover it with fine kudzu cloth and present it; Cut melons for princes of vassal states, peel them, cut them into two pieces, and cover them horizontally in the middle with coarse kudzu cloth. Cut the melon for the doctor, peel it and cut it into two pieces, without a towel; In order to cut the melon, only one knife is needed to remove the pedicle after peeling; Shu Ren, as long as you pick the melon and take a bite, you can eat it.

Think about it, if this melon is watermelon, how to eat it?

In fact, the melon we talked about at that time was the melon we ate today.

Of course, this evidence is not convincing, so it is indirect evidence.