Talk:banana

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Two adjective senses, the first most dubious than the second. Can they be attested as adjectives? See WT:English adjectives and #cayenne. - -sche (discuss) 17:38, 23 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

"Banana flavouring" is in common usage, and "banana liqueur" is also in common usage. Relatively huge number of cites available. It should be noted that the def should be broadened to say "having a flavour derived from, or tasting like, bananas" to account for the fact that artificial flavouring is dominant in many products, and the second should be "having a colour similar to a banana, typically bright greenish yellow" as bananas come in many shades. A third def should be added "in the fanciful shape of a banana" used in "banana seat" (bicycles) and "banana plug" or "banana connector" (electrical connections). The colour sample given is, however, not considered "banana" as far as I can tell. [1] shows the far more typical greenish-yellow found in bananas. See also [2] Collect (talk) 02:06, 24 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

Banana flavouring and banana liqueur seem attributive use of the noun. Your proposed definition seems to be a genuine adjective. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 02:15, 24 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

We need to see usage that could not be interpreted as attributive use of the noun. Examples are:

1. modification of banana by an adverb like too or very: "I think that handbag is very banana, really too banana for the dress." OR
2. use in a comparison: "This batch of leather came back more banana than the first, which was more lemon." OR
3. use in a sense not assumed by the noun.
4. use after become: "The lemony leather seemed to become banana in front of our eyes."

This is what is explained in WT:English adjectives. DCDuring TALK 02:35, 24 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

I find it easier to start with the adjective-fitting citations and fit the definition to the citations rather than the other way around. DCDuring TALK 02:41, 24 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

The true banana color is from the ripe fruit, and has no green in it at all (people buy fruit slightly under-ripe so it won't turn over-ripe before they eat it). If anything, the color sample needs a little more orange. Chuck Entz (talk) 02:43, 24 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

Colors are always tricky. For the "standard" colors, there's little doubt that they are adjectives, and my personal inclination is to consider "noun" uses of those colors to be substantive use of the adjective. For "modern" colors like banana (or whatever), it becomes trickier because of the duality of the standard colors. Consider, a "banana shirt" could be a banana-colored shirt or one printed with numerous bananas. In other words, is the color sense of banana fundamentally a noun or an adjective? If it were a standard color, there would be no question, and I'd even consider moving the color sense to Adjective and removing it from Noun. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:50, 24 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

Presumably a banana hammock is yellow, since all hammocks are more or less banana shaped? Rich Farmbrough, 22:46, 25 September 2012 (UTC).Reply

A banana hammock is a metaphorical hammock for a euphemistic banana, not a hammock that is shaped or colored like a banana. It's still an attributive use of the noun, not an adjective, as you still can't say "this hammock is more banana than that one". —Angr 09:03, 26 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

Most banana species are not yellow, and yellow is a prime colour. I understand that a colour may occasionally be given as banana, but so is stone although depending on your location in the world, common stone can be in the yellow, red or blue of the spectrum and I know I often see both beige (yellow) and grey (blue) items called stone colour. Bananas grow white, pink, red, yellow, blue (i think), green, mixes of those colours, and probably some more. If a word is a given name for a thing, such as *human*, everything about it can become adjective for the example, the human hand. Compare a human hand with a chimpanzee hand. You are obligated to use the word human adjectively to describe the human hand, and the chimp respectively, but I could see that failing to apply to dictionary definition as an adjective for hand. The mixture and pattern of black and yellow however may be rather unique to the (cavendish?) commonplace banana, but otherwise, if the term hasn't fallen into common usage as lemon exampled above, I don't see why you should need to bother with everything as a colour. Night could be a colour. It's just commercialisation. If that doesn't help just say so. I like musa. It is like the little shop of horrors plant some of it and some surviving species are very ancient. They are from south asia and they smell nice. And there is your missing adjective. Bananas have a distinctive and popular smell. RTG (talk) 03:03, 8 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

When something becomes an adjective, it's the quality associated with it in people's minds that counts, not all the exceptions that don't match. After all, there are plenty of banana varieties that are anything but "banana-shaped", and yet we have all kinds of terms containing the word "banana" that derive from that shape. Think of all the colors of roses- just about everything but a true blue- and yet rose is a pink color. There are white lavenders, violets, pinks, etc., even green oranges. The existence of greengages doesn't invalidate the plum color, nor does the yellow key lime invalidate lime green. Talking about real-world examples doesn't say much about the archetypes that are involved in the names of the adjectives- it just wastes time by missing the point. Chuck Entz (talk) 04:39, 8 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

To me the colour of banana is not popular as a term and I just thought it could be argued that it shoudn't really matter. They don't have a particular colour after all, and the ones we are used to are not sustainable. The smell however... surely the smell of the banana is unique. Oh don't eat green oranges. They aren't ripe and as I recall it's illegal to harvest them when still green, as they are carcinogenic before ripe, and green oranges are also a sign of a bacterial disease. There are many dozens of species of orange and they are all orange in colour (Cam sành is not an orange species and, according to wikipedia, tends to be orange within, and sometimes without also). Even the blood orange is orange, only darker inside. Rose colour, isn't that just an anglicisation of the french word rosé? Well if it isn't it must be a remarkable coincidence that the common popular rose is blood red while the rosé is a perfect match for the pale pink colour. Doesn't the existence of individual names for greenguages and key limes set them apart in that, and for this very reason? Language evolves and is therefore often more careful and reasonable than we might think. What colour is a tulip? Negatory, tulips are no one colour, not even purple, they are any colour you like. As I recall, natural wild lavender is all one colour, and basically, if banana is not really the term for a colour, but you claim it is, what is that? Put those straws down man! There is probably a short one! RTG (talk) 11:54, 8 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Think of it this way, why is it that oranges are orange in English while carrots are not, and yet carrots are native to, or at least prolific since antiquity in, Europe and obviously orange? Occasionally someones hair might be referred to as a carrot top for instance... but orange carrots are a modern thing. Carrots come in white, blue purple, you name it. It's our modern industrtial farming methods. Mono crops until we think that is all there is. They destroy the environment, but they also destroy what it is to percieve the world as it is too. Sounds whacked out but it's true. Any natural object with a name could be an adjective for a colour just because anyone says so, or there could be actual adjectives that fall into true use for a reason. Language evolves rather than just get placed haberdashedly doesn't it, or every time Barack Obama used a Arabic word () we'd all have to speak Arabic and call it English. RTG (talk) 11:42, 9 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

It looks to me like "Flavoured with bananas." and "Of the colour of bananas." fail RFV as adjectives (though the noun can be used to ascribe those attributes to things). "Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight." was added after the RFV and thus is not subject to it, and I don't feel like challenging it. - -sche (discuss) 00:54, 26 October 2012 (UTC)Reply