Other than not been considered a numismatist. I am still interested in learning about coins. I saw this thread http://www.cointalk.com/t207475/ and it got my attention. I didn't want to highjack the thread to ask my question so I started this one. I have never heard of "date palms" before. Now I am curious to learn as to why they are called that. Are certain palms, shown on the coins the date on them or what. I would like to be educated as to why such a term is used and are they highly collectible?
A date palm is a palm tree that produces dates. Like an apple tree produces apples. Like an orange tree produces oranges. Like an almond tree produces almonds. Etc...
In this case, "date palms", referred by a member who raises edible dates, were coins and notes that show such trees. It was a personal collection interest based on his profession. Jim
OMG... How embarrassing. OK guys, thanks. I actually thought they were called that because of the year the coin was minted and that a palm was used instead (or something like that). I had never heard of a coin called this so I had to ask. Again, sorry to waste your time to explain but thank you for clarifying it for me too.
No biggie, we all are here to learn, (and sometimes not about coins). Like others said, its a species of palm that happens to produce the fruit we call dates. There are literally hundreds of species of palms, so I would say its more akin to saying a macintosh apple tree versus just an apple tree.
In high school "date palms" was a reference to not having a girl to date on Saturday night! :devil: :foot-mouth:
Don't feel too bad, I was wondering what a date palm is too. We used to call that something else back in the days.
lol, been growing dates since 1977 and never heard that one about not having a girl to date. Learn something every day. Yes I grow the best in the world. 22 different varieties, many of which are recognized as the best of the region from which the variety originally came or the best of thousands of seedlings that farmer/growers have selected over the years. Here is a link to some pics of my dates http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i378/softmentor/7dish3var.jpg
As for the confusion ... at least I'm in good company. A few years ago an American friend of mine wanted to take me to a date farm. Huh? I'm from Germany, and while I knew what a (calendar) date is, and while we sometimes use the English word "Date" (in the sense of, well, having a date), I simply did not know that it can also refer to some fruit. So when he made that suggestion, I actually replied that in my opinion this was somewhat weird ... Duh. Christian
Ha Ha! A "Date Farm" I wonder if they saddle cows there? By the way: What do you call the fruit in German which in English we call Date?
Got the feeling the bloke was making a move on ya dear fellow? Lost in translation.......... Idiomatic terms can sometimes make idiots of us all.
Indeed. The date, as in "June 6", is a Datum in German - the fruit is a Dattel. And sure, the confusion did not last very long. But I am happy to see that it may happen to native speakers too, hehe. Christian
Ok, so let's confuse things even further. In school Dat'um was used in local vernacular as in this, "Did you dat'um/datum?" Dating a multiple of girls from the same group. In gym class: Dattels were the two things boys have that are easily damaged and that hurt the most when hit. Now, back to coins!