That was early!

[venta]

I've just picked, and eaten, a ripe bramble.

Incidentally: spikey thorny bushes are called brambles. The fruits that grow on them are called brambles, also known as blackberries.

Or so I think. One of our sysadmins at work insists that only the bushes are called brambles - to the extent of being adamant that bramble jelly is made from the leaves and the shoot-tips. He's clearly insane.

However. How common is it to call the fruits brambles ? Would you do it ?

Comments

My 2cp

[edling.livejournal.com]

Well if you ask me, calling everything a bramble is just one of those strange northern things...
My classification (which I think broadly agrees with everyone else, in bits, maybe) is that 'bramble' is a sort of superclass, consisting of all the various hedge dwelling plant life with big spiky bits on. Any berries are named according to the specific type of bush they came from eg: Blackberries. I've never heard of the fruit being called 'brambles' before.
According to this though, jam made from > 1 type of fruit should be Brambleberry Jam, so summat's off-kilter somewhere though.
Additionally, I've not really seen 'bramble' used as a singular noun before, only in the plural (some brambles), or as a pronoun (a bramble bush).
Before anyone asks: Yes i did have to look up a large chunk of the English language to explain that, and I've probably still got it wrong...