"Produce" as used Transpondially to mean vegetables. "He was so bad they were throwing produce at him".
Our village flower show is officially known as the 'Flower and Produce Show' and has been for years. Knowing some of the past organisers (now all in their 80s) I doubt transpondia as an influence. Possibly another example of Americans continuing to use words which we consider obsolete, but no more than that.
Certainly. My venerable 1968 Chambers says '
ns: that which is produced: proceeds: product: crop: yield, esp. of fields and gardens'; in other words, using it for fruit & veg is OK in a foody/flowery context. I'd say, though, that using it in everyday non-foody speech, e.g. throwing produce at a performer, implies that the word means fruit & veg predominantly or even exclusively. After all an Ikea chair, produce of Sweden, might also be heaved at the poor bugger. It is the shrinking of the word's meaning that I find curiously Usanian.
Another instance was "you're not going to bribe me with a bagful of produce". Make it produce of the Royal Mint (or whatever they call it these days) and it just might work.
Am I right in thinking that one meaning of 'products' is 'stuff you put in your hair'?
eg
- Do you use products?
- Yes, but just brylcreem
That's like the French
produits, shortened from
produits chimiques. As in
mange pas ça, y a des produits dedans.
