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This is a discussion thread.
Latest post Wed, Jul 22 2009 12:30 AM by Anonymous. 8 replies.
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Guest
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10045
Tue, 07 Oct 03 03:08 AM
If someone forces themselves on a couple, it is said that that person is playing gooseberry.
Why gooseberry? Does anyone know the answer? Help, please.
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hitchhiker
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10051
Tue, 07 Oct 03 04:27 AM
Also known as:
-The third wheel
-The fourth beat of a waltz
-The third singer of a duet
It means: To be the odd man out, to be / feel out of place
"I was at a bar with Bob and Cindy last night; it was terrible! I hate playing gooseberry"
Joined on
Mon, Nov 18 2002
Richmond, UK
Senior Member
3,440
"They obstinately persisted in their absence." —HGTG
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RoyBates,
6 yr 31 days ago
OK. The meaning is clear. But why is the word gooseberry used?
What connection is there to a fruit?
Anonymous,
2 yr 187 days ago
The term playing gooseberry is used in an
idiomatic expression unique to the British and the Canadians. To play a
gooseberry is very much like being referred to as “the third wheel.”
The gooseberry may accompany a romantically linked couple on a date. It
is hard to determine if the expression derives from the fact that the
single person may blush from the romantic doings of the couple, thus resembling a gooseberry. Alternately,
perhaps the single person is too “thorny” in nature to procure his or
her own date.
Anonymous,
1 yr 186 days ago
It's because in Victorian England, people used to say that babies are found under gooseberry bushes, when avoiding telling children about sex.
Anonymous,
1 yr 96 days ago
Gooseberry was an old English euphemism for the Devil, who is unwelcome...
Anonymous,
144 days ago
 Anonymous“ It is hard to determine if the expression derives from the fact that the single person may blush from the romantic doings of the couple, thus resembling a gooseberry”
Gooseberies are green! strange blush!!!
Anonymous,
140 days ago
but they go pink when ripe
Anonymous,
109 days ago
Almost all references I've seen to playing gooseberry seem to make the gooseberry in question unwanted and unneeded. As someone who's life role is seemingly to be the gooseberry, I disagree with that. The gooseberry can be a person invited along to punctuate the nervous silences on first dates; a veritable jester for the lovestruck. I could carry on with some misanthropic rantings but I'm sure we've all heard it before...
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