Agnes by Tony Cochran for July 31, 2021

In celebration of the day:

Word History: The history of avocado takes us back to the Aztecs and their language, Nahuatl, which contained the word ahuacatl meaning both “fruit of the avocado tree” and “testicle.” The word ahuacatl was compounded with others, as in ahuacamolli, meaning “avocado soup or sauce,” from which the Spanish-Mexican word guacamole derives. In trying to pronounce ahuacatl, the Spanish who found the fruit and its Nahuatl name in Mexico came up with aguacate, but other Spanish speakers substituted the form avocado for the Nahuatl word because ahuacatl sounded like the early Spanish word avocado (now abogado), meaning “lawyer.” In borrowing the Spanish avocado, first recorded in English in 1697 in the compound avogato pear (with a spelling that probably reflects Spanish pronunciation), we have lost some traces of the more interesting Nahuatl word.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright© 2006, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Some days along Colorado’s Eastern Slope, it feels like we’ve merged with California and Texas, but I’ll mix up a batch of guacamole and dance anyway.

Guacamole Gauchoettes!

I didn’t know the word “avocado” as a child, either.

My mother had grown up in Illinois, where they were considered exotic… rare, and expensive.

I remember that on a trip to Peoria to see her various siblings, my rich uncle from Chicago brought several, but only the adults shared them.

They called them “alligator pears.”

My parents were NOT vegetable eaters.

We kids were fed raw carrots, and tomatoes, celery, and lettuce (only iceberg!) and Mom cooked fresh corn on the cob…

but otherwise, she’d heat one can of peas or string beans for the whole family.

As a young adult, I joked that after my family moved to California,

I stayed for the “A” vegetables… avocados, asparagus, and artichokes… that I’d never tasted as a child.

avocado, the expensive lottery produce that more often than not ends up in the composter, not in your guacamole…

I thought “avocado” was a lawyer in Guadalajara?

I’ll show myself out.

Nice moves, Agnes and Trout.

Love that they faced their brains out for the joy of it.

They make nice snacks. And the seeds are fun to grow.

Avocadoes are proof that, given enough salsa – ANYTHING can be made palatable!

These two seem better suited for whack-a-mole than guacamole. :>)

Cool drawing in panel two, but how much sugar did these kids eat today?!