Why do stores sell pitted plums, meaning those without the pit? Would it not be better English to say "de-pitted"?
By Skeeta from SC
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Well, one of the definitions of pit is to remove pits from prunes and cherries, hence the word pitted prunes.
The word 'pitted' is the only proper US English adjective to describe the noun. And if you look up the word de-pitted/depitted in the dictionary you won't find it ;-)
Here we would say they are "stoned" !
Marg from England
Marg, I like your explanation best! LOL
I love how the UK and the US have completely different names for many items :-) Also glad to know you call them stoned rather than de-stoned ;-)
In my humble opinion, "pit" is both a noun and a verb. When one removes the pit from a fruit, it is called pitting. Eg. "I am going to pit the olives." Thus, there are pitted and non pitted plums. It is one of the quirks of the English language.
Kudos to you for noticing, however. What bugs me is Bar-B-Que instead of Barbequed or Bar-B-Qued which would the proper past tense of that verb. Watch menus for similar poor use of the English language.
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