How did Peter Piper pick pickled peppers?
How did Peter Piper pick pickled peppers?
Were the peppers already pickled on the plant somehow? Is there a type of pepper called pickled peppers? What is a peck anyway?
Rewritten with synonyms that are more understandable:
Peter Piper selected a 2-gallon quantity of pickled peppers.
...probably at the market. The peppers were already harvested and pickled.
…probably at the market.
Was there a little piggy there too?
A peck is (was) a unit of measure, oddly. Same with a bushel. I know because my Grandma used to say "a bushel and a peck, and a squeeze around the neck!" to me when I was young. I had to ask her too.
Also, why would anyone she sell seashells by the seashore, of all places? Terrible business model to sell seashells where your customers can easily find their own.
You're paying for the curated selection. Been to the seashore lately? Most of that shits all chipped and broken.
You're right, I take it back.
Literally every beach souvenir shop I've ever visited has bunches of seashells for sale.
From what what I remember, this saying is about Mary Anning and how she sold fossils by the beach in England where she lived. So most people probably didn't know how to pick a rock with a fossil, or open it well enough to preserve said fossil
So people say. I'm a bit sceptical about that origin story because fossils aren't seashells and, as far as I remember, Mary Anning didn't sell many of her fossils!
The value of those shells will fall. Due to the laws of supply and demand, no one wants to buy shells cause there's loads on the sand.
The shells she sells are sea shells for sure.
Where Peter Piper lives, it rains vinegar.
Next thing I know, you’re going to ask me how Moses could suppose his toes are roses. Cuz one might suppose that erroneously that anyone’s toes could be posies of roses as Moses supposes his toes to be.
I think you're on track. My best guess is that he was harvesting "pickling peppers" (i.e. peppers that would later be brined) and somehow the -ing ending turned into -ed. Probably for the sake of cadence in the tongue twister.
There is no capsicum fruit that grows in an already pickled state. Hopefully that's not a surprise to anyone. This video is a good overview of the varieties out there if you're curious though: https://youtu.be/BtsiuA7ETd8?si=rAUNaoQmDQvmLN_5
They aren't being picked from the plant, the peck of pickled peppers Peter picks are from an entrée of already pickled peppers.
I thought it was peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers,
As in a pack of pre pickled peppers
Peppers properly pickled, then packaged on purpose, Peter picked those.
Where are you from, out of interest? I'm trying to work out which accents have an e/a merge going on!
Darwin Australia,
I'm not sure if we do though or if I'm bad at listening
I always wondered why Peter Piper preferred picking a peck of pickled peppers to picking a pack of pastrami or a pallet of popcorn.
You see, pick has multiple meanings; take your pick.