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Meaning of "autumnal gourds"



 
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Meaning of "autumnal gourds" #1 (permalink) Mon Aug 28, 2006 5:40 am   Meaning of "autumnal gourds"
 

Dear Teachers,

I read this:

"Last year I attempted to start down that road by insisting that I actually engage in that most familiar of Halloween traditions by purchasing autumnal gourds, and then celebrating their harvest by hollowing them out, cutting an interesting design through their skin and then setting the insides alight."

I wonder if "autumnal gourds" is a common alternative term for pumpkins? If without such context, can people understand what autumnal gourds refer to?
All Potted Out
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Meaning of "autumnal gourds" #2 (permalink) Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:53 am   Meaning of "autumnal gourds"
 

Hi apo

The sense I get is that the author is referring to a variety of gourds, but I'd expect pumpkins to be included.

A native speaker wouldn't know specifically which gourds the writer is referring to either. To get an idea what the other gourds might look like, try a Google search for "autumnal gourds" or "fall gourds". Wink

Amy
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Gourds #3 (permalink) Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:20 am   Gourds
 

Hi apo,

Gourd is one of those rich sounding words so much more evocative than funny old pumpkin. I always think of it like that probably because of the poem by John Keats, Ode to Autumn:

Quote:
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.


Alan
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Meaning of "autumnal gourds" #4 (permalink) Mon Aug 28, 2006 12:33 pm   Meaning of "autumnal gourds"
 

.
Do people in the UK carve only pumpkins, Alan?
.
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Meaning of "autumnal gourds" #5 (permalink) Mon Aug 28, 2006 14:15 pm   Meaning of "autumnal gourds"
 

Hi,

Gourd knows!

Alan
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