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I thought we could start a thread talking about matters WEEDY!

We can add quotes generally from other people, and then if you have something to say, you can add your own personal comment as a quote.

Here goes - I thought two to start that answer the question 'What is a weed?"

"But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit. Weeds are people's idea, not nature's". ~Author Unknown

"What is a weed? I have heard it said that there are sixty definitions. For me, a weed is a plant out of place." ~Donald Culross Peattie

Well, maybe we will find those 60 definitions or go for 60 quotes ... have your say, why not?

Cheers

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Weed" is not a scientific term. It's a human value judgment. A weed is a plant that's growing where someone doesn't want it.
--Mona Evans (in biology teacher mode, defining terminology for a science class)

Hi there,

What is the etymology of the word WEED? Does anyone know?

Anyway, here is one to think about ...

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. ~Doug Larson

Cheers

The Etymology Dictionary says: weed (n.)
"plant not valued for use or beauty," Old English weod, uueod "grass, herb, weed," from Proto-Germanic *weud- (cognates: Old Saxon wiod, East Frisian wiud), of unknown origin. Also applied to trees that grow abundantly. Meaning "tobacco" is from c.1600; that of "marijuana" is from 1920s. The chemical weed-killer is attested by 1885.

It looks to me as though the original meaning might just have been another word for plant. I wonder when it acquired its perjorative meaning.

A thought about weeds

If I plant the seeds
I'd want to succeed
in getting the breeds
of veggies I need,
or flowers to feed
my soul.
It's true.

If I were to proceed
to care for the each seed
with water and light decreed,
I'd be cross indeed
to find ragweed.
Not my goal.
Achoo!!!

Hi Mona,

Thanks for that etymological info - you are right, it probably did mean plant but could have been used to describe any plant not planted and rampant or popular or aggressive or those words used to talk about such plants.

By default then, it could have become perjorative by general use of course ... I remember conversations as a child on the farm in Zimbabwe when, in drought years, the farmers would complain that their mielies (maize) 'looked like onions and the tobacco like a weed.'

As with everything in life, there are good weeds and bad ones ... but then again, I am sure there is a debate on which ones are bad and which good, and for whom and what?

Did you write that poem? It's really good! Poor old ragweed - wonder who does love it?

Cheers

Hi All,

Here's one with a twist on the usual ditty...

Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
But they don't get around
Like the dandelions do.
~Slim Acres


Cheers

Hi All,

Here is a quote to make you smile - I agree with her!

They know, they just know where to grow, how to dupe you, and how to camouflage themselves among the perfectly respectable plants, they just know, and therefore, I've concluded weeds must have brains.
~Dianne Benson

And here is one to think about - it reminds me of Connie's avatar

I learn more about God
From weeds than from roses;
Resilience springing
Through the smallest chink of hope
In the absolute of concrete...
~Phillip Pulfrey

Cheers

Yes, Lestie, the ragweed poem is mine. It has the hallmark: a line with a stray word in it which was supposed to be edited out. Glad you liked it.

No one who's ever suffered from hay fever would love ragweed, that's for sure.

WEEDS

Weedy is as weedy does and does and does...

Especially if it's nothing that you does.