# nuts - what type do you think of first?



## rusita preciosa

When someone say "nut / nuts", without specifying the type, what type of nuts do you first think of? 
 
I think of *hazelnut*, in Russia where I grew up it is the most "generic" nut.
 
Most Americans I asked think of *peanut*.
 
How about you?


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## sakvaka

I think of cashew nuts and hazelnuts.

Besides, peanuts aren't nuts. They belong to the bean family. Those who claim otherwise are nuts themselves.


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## catlady60

I think of cashews and walnuts when someone mentions nuts (the kind that grow on trees, of course).


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## rusita preciosa

sakvaka said:


> Besides, peanuts aren't nuts. They belong to the bean family.


Thank you Capitain Obvious!


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## sakvaka

rusita preciosa said:


> Thank you Capitain Obvious!



It's not so obvious. Some people think they'll get the same health effects from peanuts and eg. pecan nuts.


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## rusita preciosa

True. But in everyday language peanuts are nuts. In supermarkets they are sold in the same section as wallnuts and hazelnuts rather than with peas and beans. 

Kind of like tomato. It is technically a fruit, but we think of it as a vegetable.


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## Maroseika

I bet on walnuts.


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## bibax

In Bohemia: *walnut* (vlašský ořech = _Italian nut_).

However if a coalman says "ořech" (nut) we always think of coal.


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## jazyk

I think most Brazilians think of walnuts, the nuts we associate with Christmas.


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## Maroseika

bibax said:


> In Bohemia: *walnut* (vlašský ořech = _Italian nut_).


In Russian it is "Greek nut".


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## sakvaka

Maroseika said:


> In Russian it is "Greek nut".



And in Finnish it's a "German nut".


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## ThomasK

We think of walnuts;: _okkernoten_ in Flanders, _walnoten_ in Holland.


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## Natalisha

rusita preciosa said:


> I think of *hazelnut*


So do I. 


Maroseika said:


> I bet on walnuts.


It's my second image.


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## bibax

In Czech hazelnut is usually *oříšek* = _nutlet_ (dim. of *ořech* = nut, implicitly walnut), like in Tři oříšky pro Popelku _= Three nutlets (hazelnuts) for Cinderella_.

The corresponding adjectives:

*ořechový* (koláč, závin/štrudl) = walnut (pie/kolach, strudel);
*oříškový* (čokoláda) = hazelnut (chocolate);

*Ořech* is also an abbreviation for *walnut* wood.
(ořech and oříšek are also two different kinds of coal)

There is also a strange saying in Czech:

*To je pravé ořechové.* = It's a plain vanilla. -- _Lit._ it's true (wal)nut _(adj.)_.


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## catlady60

rusita preciosa said:


> True. But in everyday language peanuts are nuts. In supermarkets they are sold in the same section as wallnuts and hazelnuts rather than with peas and beans.
> 
> Kind of like tomato. It is technically a fruit, but we think of it as a vegetable.


You're dead on, Rusita.  Peanuts are technically a bean, but are eaten as if it were a nut because they have a similar texture as a walnut, pecan, cashew, Brazil nut, etc.
Peanuts also have the same unfortunate side effects as softer beans.  I'm not going to go into any details; you draw your own conclusions.


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## Arrius

The _wal_ part of _walnut_ and German _Walnuß_, which means the same, has the same derivation as _Wales,Welsh_, German Swiss _Welschland _and French _les velches_, all implying _foreign_, which explains the names for walnuts in various languages given above. However, I would think of brazils first and am quite surprised to learn that Brazilians do not.


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## Montesacro

In Italian the generic term "noce" (_nut_) also means _walnut_.
So the answer to the original question is obvious: when we think of nuts we always think of walnuts.

Other kinds of nuts are never called nuts:

hazelnut = _nocciola_
chestnut = _castagna_
peanut = _arachide, nocciolina_
etc.

Curiously the Latin word for walnut is _juglans_ (from _Jovis glans_ = Jupiter's acorn).


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## Havfruen

I think of peanuts first, then walnuts, followed by almonds, cashews, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamias, filberts...


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## Forero

It depends on the context, but _nuts_ by itself means hickory nuts (wild walnuts) to me, and the second _nuts_ I think of are pecans.

In the context of commercial candies, I think of peanuts first, then almonds, then cashews.


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## apmoy70

Walnuts.


Maroseika said:


> In Russian it is "Greek nut".


Yep, we are nuts (actually all of southern Europeans are)...it's the climate


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## Kangy

In Spanish (at least in Argentina) we think of *walnuts* first.


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## Outsider

In Portugal, I'd say we also think of walnuts first and foremost. Then again, the Portuguese words for different kinds of nuts are not related:

(wal)nut is _noz_
chestnut is _castanha_
peanut is _amendoim_
hazelnut is _avelã_

All fall under the umbrella term _frutos secos_, dry fruits.


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