The word “avocado” comes from the Nahuatl word āhuacatl (”testicle”, a reference to the shape of the fruit). Historically avocados had a long-standing stigma as a sexual stimulant and were not purchased or consumed by any person wishing to preserve a chaste image.
As a fan of both etymology and of avocados, I found this interesting.
Speaking of words, I want to also link the word haberdasher to Brendan, to help him keep that number three rank in Google for the search term, right behind Wikipedia and Websters. Well done.
And since you are wondering now like I am…
haberdasher - 1311, from Anglo-Fr. hapertas “small wares,” of unknown origin. At first “a dealer in small articles of trade,” sense of “dealer in men’s wares” is 1887 in Amer.Eng., via intermediate sense of “seller of hats.”
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