# pluck/pick (musrooms, fruit, flowers)



## mimi2

Please tell me which is better "pluck mushrooms" or "pick mushrooms"
Thanks.


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## Anjie

I'd say pick mushrooms.


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## Dimcl

Since a mushroom grows on the ground, I would always say "pick" mushrooms.  I think of "plucking" fruit... I would "pluck" an apple/peach/pear from a tree.  "Pluck" has more of a "tugging" connotation to me than does "pick".


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## mimi2

Is it true that you pluck fruits?
Have you ever picked/plucked mushrooms? Dimcl.


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## mimi2

What about flowers? Can you use pick too? pick flowers?


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## Dimcl

mimi2 said:


> What about flowers? Can you use pick too? pick flowers?


 
No, I have never "picked" mushrooms but many people in my area of Canada do and they always use the word "pick".  And, yes, I pick flowers all the time.  "Plucking" has more of a "snatching", "tugging" connotation.


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## mimi2

I would say:
-pick flowers
-pick mushrooms
-pluck fruits or pick fruits?
Please confirm it. Thanks.
That you pick flowers all the time means that you have a flower garden, don't you?


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## haywire

mimi2 said:


> I would say:
> -pick flowers [correct]
> -pick mushrooms [correct]
> -pluck fruits or pick fruits?
> Please confirm it. Thanks.
> That you pick flowers all the time means that you have a flower garden, don't you?



-pluck fruits or pick fruits?

You can do either.  You hear 'pluck' more often in poems and stories, it's fairly poetic...

Ex:
PLUCK
"The little green elf, so nimble and free, without haste plucked the apple from the apple tree."
"Eve plucked the fruit from the tree of knowledge."

PICK:
"Today I'm going to pick 25 oranges so I can make juice tomorrow."
"Hey Tome, what are you doing?" "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm picking cherries!"

Saying "I pick flowers all the time."  Means simply that, could be anywhere, in a garden, on the side of the road, in the mountians... doesn't relate to anywhere specific.

good luck,
haywire.


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## mimi2

Thank you, haywire.
Your explanation is great. Thank you very much.


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## petereid

Pluck is used when removing feathers from birds
he plucks chickens,  he plucks feathers,

Pluck is used when applied to a stringed instrument such as a guitar


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## eddiemel7778

Hi there! 
One can also pluck one's eyebrows.


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## mimi2

Thanks petereid and eddiemel. Very interesting!


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## Karen123456

<Added to an earlier thread>

I read in an English usage book that one cannot pluck flowers. For example, The girl saw the beautiful flower and plucked it. (The word should be "picked".)

Do native speakersystem use "picked" in this context?

Thanks.


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## Thomas Tompion

Yes, we do.  We pick flowers and pluck a chicken.


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## natkretep

I know where you are coming from, Karen. Talking about_ plucking flowers_ is common here in Singapore too and possibly also in India, but elsewhere it is unusual. It might also sound a little literary.


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## DonnyB

As TT says (post #14) you can, in BE, "pick flowers" but it would suggest to me getting enough to make a bunch.

In Karen's sentence "The girl saw the beautiful flower and plucked it", the inference is more that the girl suddenly spotted this flower she took a fancy to and grabbed it, so I think "plucked" works better there.


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## velisarius

I disagree with nat and Donny. "Plucked a flower" is "poetic", though I sometimes feel like using "plucked" when I pick lilies - they need a good hard pull, which is similar to plucking a large feather from a bird. When you "pick" a flower you often just snap or cut the stem.


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## Keith Bradford

"Pick flowers" and "pluck flowers" were equally common until around 1870.  From that time onwards, *pick *has become more common and is nowadays ten times more likely than _pluck_.

But strangely, the difference is much less marked in the singular.  "Pick a flower" only overtook "pluck a flower" around 1920, and even today is only twice as common.

And, amazingly, if you narrow it down to "pluck a rose" versus "pick a rose", the popularity is neck and neck, and has been so since the 1940s.

Source for all: Google ngrams.


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## natkretep

That's useful, Keith. Presumably you meant 1870, rather than 1670.


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## Keith Bradford

Sorry, 1870 was right, I've corrected it.

But "pluck mushrooms" doesn't exist at all in the literature.


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## Anticlée

Dimcl said:


> I think of "plucking" fruit... I would "pluck" an apple/peach/pear from a tree.  "Pluck" has more of a "tugging" connotation to me than does "pick".


Plucking or picking fruit depends on the "effort" you need to remove the fruit?
You pick grapes (with secarteurs….), you pick cherries
You pluck apples, peaches, bananas ?


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## sound shift

Anticlée said:


> Plucking or picking fruit depends on the "effort" you need to remove the fruit?
> You pick grapes (with secarteurs….), you pick cherries
> You pluck apples, peaches, bananas ?


No, not for me. "Pick" for all of those.


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## Anticlée

Do you _pluck_ any fruit?


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## kentix

Normally, no. You might say it about an individual fruit but not about many.

_He saw a big shiny apple that looked so delicious he plucked it from the tree.

They went apple picking and came back with five baskets full.

We picked apples until the sun went down._


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## AnythingGoes

We don't usually say we _pick_ wild mushrooms; we _hunt_ them. I left a French interlocutor puzzled when I used the French word for "hunt" in a story about collecting mushrooms. I won't put the French word here in the English-only forum, but it's a cognate of _chase. _


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## Roymalika

velisarius said:


> I disagree with nat and Donny. "Plucked a flower" is "poetic", though I sometimes feel like using "plucked" when I pick lilies - they need a good hard pull, which is similar to plucking a large feather from a bird. When you "pick" a flower you often just snap or cut the stem.


Hello velisarius.
Does modern British English use "pick" for every type of flower? If no, which flowers does it use "pluck" for? Can you please let me know that?


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## Roymalika

[This post and the following ones have been added to a previous thread on the same topic.  Please read down from the top.  DonnyB - moderator]
Katherine is in the garden. She is plucking flowers.

Would a native British English speaker use "pluck" here?


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## lingobingo

No. They’d use *pick*. (We only pluck eyebrows! )


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## heypresto

No. We would say ' . . . picking flowers'



lingobingo said:


> (We only pluck eyebrows! )


And pheasants.


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## Edinburgher

Would you not be said to be plucking flowers if you were pulling their petals off one by one, to a chant of "He loves me.  He loves me not. ..."?


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## Roymalika

lingobingo said:


> No. They’d use *pick*. (We only pluck eyebrows! )





heypresto said:


> No. We would say ' . . . picking flowers'


Can you please tell me why British English speakers don't use "pluck"?


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## Roymalika

Edinburgher said:


> Would you not be said to be plucking flowers if you were pulling their petals off one by one, to a chant of "He loves me.  He loves me not. ..."?


Sorry I don't understand. What do you want to say?


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## lingobingo

Roymalika said:


> Can you please tell me why British English speakers don't use "pluck"?


We do use *pluck*, but not for the everyday action of picking flowers. It has several slightly different uses. One is in the sense of pulling or grabbing something in a violent or sudden way (He plucked the letter form my hand). Another is to meticulously pull out small hairs or fibres (as in plucking your eyebrows). Yet another is to remove the feathers from  poultry or game birds in preparation for cooking them.


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## Roymalika

lingobingo said:


> We do use *pluck*, but not for the everyday action of picking flowers. It has several slightly different uses. One is in the sense of pulling or grabbing something in a violent or sudden way (He plucked the letter form my hand). Another is to meticulously pull out small hairs or fibres (as in plucking your eyebrows). Yet another is to remove the feathers from  poultry or game birds in preparation for cooking them.


Sorry for not being clear. I meant that why British English speakers don't use pluck with flowers?


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## lingobingo

How can we possibly answer that question? That usage is simply not normal in modern English. It would sound extremely odd.

But as Edinburgher implies in #30, you could use pluck to mean* plucking petals *from flowers, which is a different activity.


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## Roymalika

lingobingo said:


> How can we possibly answer that question? That usage is simply not normal in modern English. It would sound extremely odd.
> 
> But as Edinburgher implies in #30, you could use pluck to mean* plucking petals *from flowers, which is a different activity.


How is plucking petals is different from picking flowers? We have to apply the same effort to do both these actions, they why is 'pluck' only restricted to petals?


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## lingobingo

As I said, it’s impossible to answer that question. You seem to be implying that English-speakers are misusing their own language by sticking to established usage. They’re not.


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## Edinburgher

Roymalika said:


> Sorry I don't understand. What do you want to say?


My suggestion was that, by analogy with "plucking a chicken" (pulling all its feathers out), "plucking a flower" could mean pulling all its petals off.  The game is explained here:
He loves me... he loves me not - Wikipedia
There are indeed occurrences of my suggestion to be found:
Plucking the Daisy - Wikipedia
Effeuillons la marguerite (let’s pluck the daisy) | Kew


Roymalika said:


> How is plucking petals is different from picking flowers?


It's established usage that when you are taking flowers out of the ground, we call it "picking flowers".
We don't use the term "plucking flowers" except in special circumstances, including when we mean we are picking something (petals) off the flowers.


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## Roymalika

lingobingo said:


> (We only pluck eyebrows! )





heypresto said:


> And pheasants.


Could I please ask why you mentioned eyebrows and pheasants? It will enhance my understanding if you explain why you did.


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## Edinburgher

Roymalika said:


> It will enhance my understanding


I'm not sure it will enhance it in a very appropriate direction.
Plucking eyebrows happens to be one common use of the word.
We also pluck birds by ripping their feathers out.  We do this to chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc.

The pheasant example is HP being mischievous.  There is a well-known tongue-twister which goes something like
"I'm not a pheasant-plucker, I'm a pheasant-plucker's son. (etc.)".
If you try to say it too quickly, you might accidentally exchange the "ph" and "pl" sounds.


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## Andygc

We do, sometimes, "pluck" flowers. See velisarius's post 17. But that implies that some poetry, drama, effort or speed is involved. We might pluck a flower from a thorny bush, but if we are collecting a  bunch of flowers to go in a vase we pick them.


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## pachanga7

Roymalika said:


> Could I please ask why you mentioned eyebrows and pheasants? It will enhance my understanding if you explain why you did.


The basic fact you need to understand is that “pick” has become the standard choice while the use of “pluck” is more specialized. “Pick” has an alternative meaning of “choose” and that is perhaps why we prefer it whenever we intend to keep and use the thing being plucked. Eyebrow hairs and feathers are generally discarded.


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## Roymalika

Andygc said:


> We might pluck a flower from a thorny bush


Could you explain more please why you would use "pluck" in this case?


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## Hermione Golightly

Andy explained that special use in his post.  So did veli in her #17. You are as unlikely to need to use it as I am.


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## london calling

AnythingGoes said:


> We don't usually say we _pick_ wild mushrooms; we _hunt_ them. I left a French interlocutor puzzled when I used the French word for "hunt" in a story about collecting mushrooms. I won't put the French word here in the English-only forum, but it's a cognate of _chase. _


This made me laugh, I have to admit: I imagined someone chasing and shooting mushrooms . We mostly pick them in the UK, as has already been said.

Edit. Just to say though that thinking about it you often do have to hunt for mushrooms (or for wild asparagus)...


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## pachanga7

Since my explanation in post #42 seems to have been ignored, perhaps I am throwing good money after bad in attempting to provide further help, but here goes attempt #2:


Roymalika said:


> How is plucking petals is different from picking flowers? We have to apply the same effort to do both these actions, they why is 'pluck' only restricted to petals?


 “Pick” is the standard choice. Furthermore, we are going to keep the flowers to sell or enjoy, a fact that alludes to the double meaning of choosing (presumably something that is desired) whereas the petals are being plucked merely for the sake of plucking—it’s a game after which the petals are discarded. 

As I and others have already said, “pluck” is a special case:


Andygc said:


> We do, sometimes, "pluck" flowers. See velisarius's post 17. But that implies that some poetry, drama, effort or speed is involved.


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## lingobingo

Roymalika said:


> Could I please ask why you mentioned eyebrows and pheasants? It will enhance my understanding if you explain why you did.


I explained this back in post #33.


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## elroy

I’m not sure the person’s intention to keep or discard the thing, or the double meaning of “pick,” have anything to do with it. 

Even if you kept your eyebrow hairs or chicken feathers, you would still say you had plucked them.  Likewise, you would still say you had picked flowers that you discarded.  Also, you pluck guitar strings even though they stay where they are.  

For me, “pluck” suggests a “violent” motion (for lack of a better term).  Eyebrows and feathers are ripped out in quick, clean movements.  Guitar strings don’t get removed, but the motion is also quick and clean.

When you pick flowers or fruit, on the other hand, the motion is typically more measured; it’s not as quick or “violent.”  I do not associate this use of “pick” with “choose.”  You can pick a rotten apple off a tree and throw it away immediately; that certainly has nothing to do with choosing it to eat.  Same with flowers.


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## Roymalika

elroy said:


> I’m not sure the person’s intention to keep or discard the thing, or the double meaning of “pick,” have anything to do with it.
> 
> Even if you kept your eyebrow hairs or chicken feathers, you would still say you had plucked them.  Likewise, you would still say you had picked flowers that you discarded.  Also, you pluck guitar strings even though they stay where they are.
> 
> For me, “pluck” suggests a “violent” motion (for lack of a better term).  Eyebrows and feathers are ripped out in quick, clean movements.  Guitar strings don’t get removed, but the motion is also quick and clean.
> 
> When you pick flowers or fruit, on the other hand, the motion is typically more measured; it’s not as quick or “violent.”  I do not associate this use of “pick” with “choose.”  You can pick a rotten apple off a tree and throw it away immediately; that certainly has nothing to do with choosing it to eat.  Same with flowers.


Hi Elroy. Would you "pluck" a flower from a thorny bush or "pick" it?


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## elroy

I _*might*_ use "plucked" if I had yanked it "violently," as I described above (but even then I'd be much more likely to use "yanked"!). 

"Pick" is, as others have said, the verb of choice with flowers 95%+ of the time.  Reserve "pluck" for special contexts, if at all.


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## pachanga7

elroy said:


> I’m not sure the person’s intention to keep or discard the thing, or the double meaning of “pick,” have anything to do with it.
> 
> Even if you kept your eyebrow hairs or chicken feathers, you would still say you had plucked them.  Likewise, you would still say you had picked flowers that you discarded.  Also, you pluck guitar strings even though they stay where they are.
> 
> For me, “pluck” suggests a “violent” motion (for lack of a better term).  Eyebrows and feathers are ripped out in quick, clean movements.  Guitar strings don’t get removed, but the motion is also quick and clean.
> 
> When you pick flowers or fruit, on the other hand, the motion is typically more measured; it’s not as quick or “violent.”  I do not associate this use of “pick” with “choose.”  You can pick a rotten apple off a tree and throw it away immediately; that certainly has nothing to do with choosing it to eat.  Same with flowers.


I can’t speak to the personal grooming habits of others  but in my experience the motion for plucking brows and plucking apples off a tree is remarkably similar, and no wonder the OP is having difficulties understanding why we might choose different terms for them.

Elroy, thank you for your analysis. I’m not saying that you personally as a modern speaker make these associations in a conscious way, simply volunteering a possible influence on these terms’ historical evolution, to address the OPs quest for a more comprehensive logic to go by.

All of your counter examples (keeping plucked eyebrow hairs, picking flowers just to throw them away) would be contrary to normal expectations. And if we were aiming to get rid of the flowers we would probably say prune or cut away, not pick.

Your guitar string example is a good one and actually provides more evidence for my theory, because guitar strings are not taken nor retained, so we say “pluck” in reference to the motion itself. 

But, I will readily acknowledge that my suggestion is merely that. The OP will have to decide whether it’s a useful one.


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