what are they?

[Millymollymandy]

15 posts and not a single Scot has appeared, just a lot of waffle from Kiwis, Poms and Poms in France.

[Sally Jane]

Isn't swede the abbreviation for Swedish Turnip?

[oldfella]

I have a feeling that these eggs probaly come from the Whitethroated Wild Haggis and not the Purple Tailed Wild Haggis, as I found them on Nockwonky Plains whilst on an Expedition with my friend Slack Alice , well to be precise she found them whilst halfway in hegde if me very close behind her, so if they are not from the PurpleTailed, would this have any bearing on the incubation time.
Fran do you know Nockywonky plains (just outside Bristol just pass to some very untidy allotments) cos I only went there once so I don't know the wind conditions but on the Day we were there, it was a very good day,in fact a very good day

[citizentwiglet]

OK, OK......I'm in Scotland....

A swede is the big thing with sort of thick, purpleish skin and is yellow/orange on the inside. Scottish people, for some reason, call these turnips.

Turnips are smaller, about the size of a small orange, and are whiteish purple skinned with white inside. Scottish people also call these turnips. I've never met a Scot who calls a turnip a swede, they just don't seem to know the word 'swede' at all.

Neeps can be, apparently, EITHER swede ('orange turnip') OR 'proper' turnip. Some Scottish people call Swede 'tumshies'. Often in the dish 'Haggis, Neeps and tatties' restaurants mix a combination of both swede and turnip.

[Millymollymandy]

Ooooooookaaaaaaay so let me see if I've got this right.

In the south of England a turnip is a turnip and a swede is a swede.

Halfway up England a turnip is a swede and a swede is a turnip.

Don't know about northern England.

In Scotland a turnip is a turnip and a swede is a turnip and either can be a neep.

Right!

Homegrown you are really going to regret having asked this question!

[homegrown]

Hey it could have been worse I could have asked which came first the chicken or the egg

[RobHed]

So what's a mangel-wurzel then ?

[Annpan]

Born and bread Scot here.

A neep is a rutabaga/swede, hard orange flesh, could hammer in a nail with one, a bugger of a vegatable to cut up .... these are what we carve out as lanterns at halloween... we call them turnips. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

The white turnips are now available in supermarkets but when I was a child I had never seen one. Which explains why there was never a confusion... we only had one type of turnip.


Neeps are apparently very nutritious and great animal feed. They grow really well in a Scottish climate.

[JulieSherris]

Yep, I'm from London, so a swede is a swede & a turnip is a turnip..... in stews, I LOVE turnips, not keen on swedes.....

The definitive proof is in the buying of seeds... if you buy a pack of turnip seeds, they are TURNIPS, not SWEDES.... you need to buy SWEDE seeds for growing swedes, which then also says Rutabaga seeds on the pack & not blummin' turnips!

Hubby is from Middlesbrough, so a swede is a turnip & until I grew them last year, he didn't know what a turnip was!!
And then his mum - 90 yrs of age, she had never seen a turnip either....

Now..... the bap/roll/barm cake/bun debate......

[Millymollymandy]

Born and bread Scot here.

A neep is a rutabaga/swede, hard orange flesh, could hammer in a nail with one, a bugger of a vegatable to cut up .... these are what we carve out as lanterns at halloween... we call them turnips. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

The white turnips are now available in supermarkets but when I was a child I had never seen one. Which explains why there was never a confusion... we only had one type of turnip.


Neeps are apparently very nutritious and great animal feed. They grow really well in a Scottish climate.

But I seem to recall that Shirley's avatar/logo for Neeps is a turnip (purple and white one).

But perhaps given the confusion the further north you go in England perhaps it's the same in Scotland and up in Aberdeen a neep is a purple and white turnip?

And there is still the problem of the rutabaga/swede here in Brittany which is a rutabaga/swede on the OUTSIDE yet it is a white bitter fleshed turnip inside!!!

[Millymollymandy]

Now..... the bap/roll/barm cake/bun debate......

I thought it was the flapjack/pancake/pikelet/scotch pancake/scone/biscuit/you name it debate between all parts of not only the British Isles but also all parts of the US and NZ and Australia as well. Isn't a common language a lovely thing.

[bobby280]

A swede is a big yellow thing and a turnip is a smaller, whiter thing. I'm ooop North. Surely nobody else calls the big yellow one a turnip do they?

[pelmetman]

Down South we knew them as crumpets but up North they're pikelets.

The swedes we know are reddish in colour and not yellow

[Millymollymandy]

Down South we knew them as crumpets but up North they're pikelets.

No no no a pikelet is a Scotch pancake (looks like a blini).

[Annpan]

Born and bread Scot here.

A neep is a rutabaga/swede, hard orange flesh, could hammer in a nail with one, a bugger of a vegatable to cut up .... these are what we carve out as lanterns at halloween... we call them turnips. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

The white turnips are now available in supermarkets but when I was a child I had never seen one. Which explains why there was never a confusion... we only had one type of turnip.


Neeps are apparently very nutritious and great animal feed. They grow really well in a Scottish climate.

But I seem to recall that Shirley's avatar/logo for Neeps is a turnip (purple and white one).

But perhaps given the confusion the further north you go in England perhaps it's the same in Scotland and up in Aberdeen a neep is a purple and white turnip?

And there is still the problem of the rutabaga/swede here in Brittany which is a rutabaga/swede on the OUTSIDE yet it is a white bitter fleshed turnip inside!!!

Well, Shirley isn't originally Scots... I don't know who drew the neeps logo but perhaps they didn''t know what a neep is either. maybe they had it like that cause it was nicer, maybe it is artistic license.

Scottish people call a rutabaga/swede a turnip. we didn't have access to the smaller turnips so to us there was only one type of turnip. Different varieties will obviously have different colourings

and I have seen scotch pancakes labeled 'johnny cakes'