Plant epithet

A plant epithet is a name used to label a person or group, by association with some perceived quality of a plant. Vegetable epithets may be pejorative, such as turnip readily giving offence, or positive, such as the rose or other flowers implying beauty. Flower names such as Hazel, Holly, Jasmine and Rose are commonly given to girls. Tree surnames such as Oak and Ash are toponymic, given to a person in the Middle Ages who lived in a place near a conspicuous tree. A few plant names such as Pease and Onions are metonymic, for sellers of peas and onions respectively. Finally, plant names are sometimes emblematic, as in the name Rose, used as a family emblem.

Plant epithets may be pejorative, used humorously and sometimes offensively. Some plant epithets are used directly as insults, as when people are called turnips, potatoes, or cabbages. When the England football team lost to Sweden under Graham Taylor, The Sun newspaper led with the headline "Swedes 2 Turnips 1", swede being a pun on a particular vegetable, and turnip being an insult. In English the collective term vegetable is also pejorative. Plant epithets are used around the world, but the choice of plants and their meanings vary. Thus in China, "stupid melon" is used as an insult. In Britain, coconut is sometimes used by black people to insult other coloured people; the term indicates betrayal, as coconuts are brown on the outside but white on the inside.

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