Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas OCTOBER. 28, 2020
[84-365] 28th. October 2020- This is quite a rare Acer spotted in the local town centre. This year is a very poor harvest as there is only one fruit currently ripening nicely. I think others have fallen during high winds.
The fruit comes in a range of colours and sizes more commonly the size of a Water Melon. This beautiful example is more the size of a Galia Melon although as it is not fully ripened it does look a little deflated at this stage.
Traditionally the soccerinium fruit had a much tougher leathery skin and was only available in shades of brown. In the early to mid twentieth century small boys in particular could only ever dream of owning one as they used to be prohibitively expensive, but over the recent decades fruit breeders have produced more exotic colours and much thinner skins making them available to all and sundry.
A festival for the soccerinium is held internationally every four years when fans of the fruit travel to a nominated city from all corners of the globe to celebrate all aspects of it. Teams of growers from every country compete for a trophy that is highly desired in this fruity World Cup.
The current format involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation(s), compete for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over about a month.
Seventeen countries have hosted the World Cup. Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, and Mexico have each hosted twice, while Uruguay, Switzerland, Sweden, Chile, England, Argentina, Spain, the United States, Japan and South Korea (jointly), South Africa, and Russia have each hosted once. Qatar will host the 2022 tournament, and 2026 will be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Todays Word for the day.
Sundry- The phrase all and sundry dates from the 1300s and meant ‘one and all’, in the sense of both collectively and individually. The word ‘sundry’ derives from the Old English syndrig, meaning ‘separate, exceptional or special’. Thus, ‘all and sundry’ started off its life emphasising the importance of individuality as well as collectiveness. Over the years, however, the phrase has simply come to mean ‘everyone’ making the presence of the ‘sundry’ part largely superfluous. By 1815, the devaluation of the word ‘sundry’ was complete when the plural form, ‘sundries’, came to mean ‘small items or articles of a miscellaneous kind’.
This is an interesting phrase because I had never thought about it's implied meaning of an assortment of different items as opposed to a collection of items all exactly the same, even though that is exactly how we use it. As a consequence I would never have guessed sundry's original meaning emphasising the importance of individuality.
So all and sundry is the perfect description for a team of football players. "the importance of individuality as well as collectiveness".
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