I read somewhere, and I suppose it makes sense, that orange was considered a shade of red. Think about hairs. We still call it “red hair” despite the fact that they’re obviously grilled orange.
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There’s all kinds of shades of red hair (and names like venetian blonde, copper, auburn,…). Just like carrots. So even the demeaning “carrot head” is actually pretty accurate, albeit not on purpose.
Conned again.
But it was very interesting
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and to think I don’t like the color orange
I just like the story because it demonstrates the pure luck involved in what we take for granted today. If one of the elements would have been different, we’d be eating more yellow, white or purple carrots today.
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There’s a similar story about how salt and pepper came to be the standard table condiments, when it just as easily could’ve been paprika or turmeric. But this is the language thread, so…
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New thread time. The “Origin of Things” thread!
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Sounds like a fun breakfast experiment. Here’s the entry for araenge in Verdam’s Middle Dutch Hand Dictionary.
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Awww, c’mon! A little bit of off-topic never held us back before.
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what does it mean: “to give a hoot”?
In its negative form, I found it means “I don’t care”, but in its positive form? I care?
E.g. “I don’t give a hoot about Sierra” = “I don’t care about Sierra”
The sentence containing that expression was: “what’s the one thing you really give a hoot about?”
It’s always used negatively. That’s just a play on words. 
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Yep, I agree.
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[interior, coroner’s office]
PICK UP hoot
GIVE hoot to Ray
“Carry your own stuff!”
Coroner:" She didn’t give a hoot-a-hoo about your hoot."
Seriously, what IS a hoot?
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It’s the sound an owl makes! 
Or a car horn, apparently. But I would say “beep” for that sound.
Owls also go “twit twoo” - spelling variable.
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I would say “honk” and I´m not gonna say in what situation this is also used, because people doing that lead to the #metoo movement.
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I sometimes say ‘toot’. ‘Stop tooting your bloody horn and go and knock on their door you lazy nincompoop!’
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I removed a reference to Hooters before (avoiding some #metoo), but apparently that wasn’t too far off then…
there’s an owl in the logo if you look closely and aren’t distracted by the background.
Or the foreground, I first read Tasse-Tee there! 
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Why? Their music is great! 
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Owls hoot? I don’t think I know what the oooh-oooh (or hooo-hooo) sound is called in any language. 
Do you know a dedicated word for the calling/crying (roepen) of an owl, @Sushi?
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