In article ,
Sacha wrote:

There is quite a large number of people in UK who grow Fuchsias as
tender plants for a hobby and it is a country-wide interest, though it
has diminished in the last few years. But those people are spread all
over Britain, so the word 'Fuchsia' was hardly confined to a small
area. To this day, we get people ringing or writing and asking for
some slightly obscure and not entirely successful plant. It seems
that your childhood was exceptional in many ways but the word 'Fuchsia'
is certainly not known only in the balmy south.

Please don't be ridiculous. I never said that it was and, in
fact, they are nowadays common in hanging baskets. The issue
was whether all children would have learnt the word by the time
they start learning another language. And, given the fact that
most people in this country live in cities and a large number
have no interest in plants or gardening, that is debatable.
It wouldn't surprise me if half the population of this country
didn't know the word.

Dammit, there was a 'survey' a while back where primary school
children were asked to name half a dozen flowers (ANY flowers)
and quite a lot of them got stuck.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.