Newsgroups: soc.penpals
Subject: Re: Kiwi fruit and Karaoke(common misconceptions)
From: T.Stewart@massey.ac.nz (T.M. Stewart)
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 04:53:09 GMT
Organization: Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
X-Reader: NETNEWS/PC Version 2c

In article <1922Dec18.031335.26322@mcshub.dcss.mcmaster.ca> writes...

>Do you call people from NZ Kiwi? It's so popular!

NZders often refer to themselves as kiwis. In Australia, NZders are 
commonly referred to as "kiwis" just as Australians are referred to 
as "Aussies" here.

The REAL kiwi actually refers to a flightless native bird which has been
adopted as a national symbol.

I've found outside NZ, Australia and the U.K., the term "kiwi" is best
known as a short form of the word kiwifruit.

>Anyway, I want to tell a story behind the name Kiwi fruit. 

>Kiwi fruit was discovered a decade ago in the southwestern part of
>China, originally named after a kind of monkey which feed on this fruit.
>It was exported to Australia and NZ, where it was then shipped to the
>US. US merchants asked a NZ bussinessman about the name of the fruit.
>Due to the rough relations between China and US then, this New Zealander
>did not tell the American that it came from China. Instead he told the
>American that it was "Kiwi fruit", because the name "Kiwi" had just come
>across his brain(or maybe he saw a kiwi bird, so was it alleged).

>So, the Chinese monkey fruit became kiwi fruit. And not many people know
>that it originated in China.

Yes, the fruit did originate in China, but the rest is simply a good 
story.   Kiwifruit had been growing in New Zealand (and probably other
countries) for decades.  I remember we had one in the back yard back in
the 1960's when I was a kid.  Then the fruit was called "Chinese gooseberry"
in view of it's origins.  No-one thought much of it....It was a tasty berry
with a rough hairy skin.

In the mid 70's (I think), some orchardists began growing the fruit for
overseas sale.  Trouble was, the name "Chinese gooseberry" was a mouthful
and also did not indicate the source of the exported crop i.e. New Zealand.

Hence "kiwifruit" was made up purely as a marketing name.  It was catchy, 
and the hope was that buyers would identify the fruit with the country, N.Z.
and so place more orders.  Shipments of Chinese gooseberry went forth into
export markets bearing the name "Kiwifruit from New Zealand"

As a marketing ploy, the name was very successful at selling the fruit.
Too successful!  Other countries saw the export potential of the berry.
By the late 1980's many other countries such as Chile, Australia, Italy, 
U.S.A. (Calif), France etc. were exporting kiwifruit too!  So many other
countries were exporting the hairy berry, the term "kiwifruit" was no longer
associated just with N.Z.

Moral of the story.  We should have patented the name!







-- 
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| Terry Stewart                       T.Stewart@massey.ac.nz|
| Department of Plant Science                               |
| Massey University                                         |
| New Zealand                                               |
|                                                           |
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