Picked up a bottle of squash and got to wondering about the term “squash”, so I went digging around on the internet. Of course all the returns are squash (cucurbita) not squash the drink. Keep digging and more specificity and finally find out the obvious, “sqaush” is a concentrated fruit juice. No shit. Dig more and finally find out that it’s originally from a drink called “lemon squash”. Real helpful. So where does “lemon squash” come from? Who knows. There’s a curcubita called “lemon squash” that seems to be inescapable when searching for the origins of the drink.

So natives of where squash (drink) is common…how did it get it’s name? I await to be enlightened while sipping my Ribena.

  • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Where are you and what the fuck is squash? All I know as a squash is a freakin gourd. Is this a weird British thing?

    Edit: yea, it is a weird UK thing. Other places it’s called a cordial or dilute. Presumably it just comes from the literal meaning of squash, which in this context means to squeeze until you no longer have scurvy.

      • Pronell@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        No, that shit is fascinating to me!

        My wife and I have been watching Taskmaster and were asking other what a fucking satsuma is. Just a tangerine. (Okay, Mandarin. I’m never clear on which is which. Correction appreciated.)

    • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Excuse me, what? I know what squash is because I lived in the UK for a while and I know what cordial is because I’m north american but what in the fuck they are the same thing?? I thought cordial was basically just syrup.

      • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I was making a joke about pirates and scurvy and vitamin c. The rest was as much as I could find for context. Lemon squash is about as far back as that etymology goes.

      • Skyhighatrist
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        10 months ago

        Scurvy is treated with Vitamin C, which is found in lots of fruit juices. The connection is obvious.

    • Nomecks
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      10 months ago

      Canadians just call it “concentrate”

    • Christov@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Wanna have your mind blown more? Squash is more of a Britain thing. In Scotland and parts of Northern England, it’s known as diluting juice.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Of course it’s an English 1.0 thing

      “Oi just pickin up a bottle a squash on me way home then. That’s good squash it is”