Renekloden
Over a punnet of greengages in a street vendor's stall in Graz.
"Renekloden".
It took me a while to sort through that. Who will comment with the likely derivation?
"Renekloden".
It took me a while to sort through that. Who will comment with the likely derivation?
The one who adores you from afar. Here's my guess for this absolutely Danish word (rene=clean, kloden=globes [though I'm sure you already knew that]):
Danes have always had, with the exception of a few fish and dairy, the shittiest produce at market I have ever seen. They avail themselves of the smallest, driest oranges from Israel, tiny anemic strawberries from northern Germany, cast-off jarred nonpareil capers from middle Africa, tomatoes--still green yet already mushy--from Poland. I'm guessing the problem is one of geography. But the point is, they get a lot of shitty produce, mostly what others would not eat. Among these, they receive some merchandise that they have never seen before--and neither has anyone from England, the USA, or Canada. And it has to have a name. And if they want to move this expensive dreck on the streets of the pedestrian mall or gourmet alley, why by God the name had better be good. Sometimes the Danish neologisms 'stick' and stand the test of time everywhere else. Clean Globes sounds like a good Danish name to apply to fruit that (in Denmark anyway) you and I wouldn't even ask about.
I bet in Graz the specimens are of much better quality, and would probably be excellent for eating out of hand--provided this is the season for greengages there.
I wish you well. I hope you're having beautiful, safe, delicious travels.
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