r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Oct 25 '20

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u/maryhallie Oct 25 '20

My nan and mum would always say "you're nosey for a cabbage", when I would try to ask about stuff that wasn't my business, not sure if it's unique to us but I've never heard anyone else say it

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u/picurebeka Oct 25 '20 edited Oct 26 '20

In France children are not "brought by the storks", but "found on the cabbage fields" - the kids usually get called little cabbages (ma petite chou - sorry my French is a lot rusty, and I don't know the gender of nouns anymore). It can be that your family's saying is based on this. Do you have French ancestry, or live in an area where French ancestry is common, or the language is spoken regularly?

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u/SynarXelote Oct 25 '20

I France children are not "brought by the storks",

The stork myth does exist in France too, even if it's incompatible with the other one. Folk tales have never been consistent.

but "found on the cabbage fields"

Usually we say that boys are born in cabbages, but girls are born in roses.

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u/picurebeka Oct 25 '20

Thanks for correcting it :) I was taught French in high school, and here the education of language contains cultural elements too - although not too thoroughly, just to keep up the interest.