Beulah, peel me the English language!

[shewhomust]

The tomatoes which went into last night's sauce didn't want to relinquish their peel. Sometimes after the boiling water treatment it sloughs off whole, like a glove, and sometimes you'd have to pare it off with a knife: last night was one of the latter times, and life's too short. So when durham_rambler fished something red out of the sauce and asked "What's this? Is it bacon?" (for he is ever the optimist), it didn't take me long to identify it as tomato skin.

But this morning I was thinking: tomato skin, or tomato peel? I said 'skin' automatically, and I stick to it. But I'd talk, as I just have, about peeling tomatoes, not skinning them. Likewise grapes: I'd peel a grape by removing the skin (and I'd certainly talk about the skins when I talk about wine making). What about peppers? If I put them under the grill until the skin blisters, am I peeling them, or skinning them? (I think, in fact, I'm removing their skin).

Oranges, on the other hand, have peel or rind - but I don't think they have skin. Well, between the segments, possibly, which suggests that the defining factor is thickness. Apples have peel, but neither rind nor skin; peaches and apricots have skin - is that because it's furry?

Is this a peculiarity of the language, or is it just me? And what do you call the shell of a pomegranate?

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

If you peel a potato, you are left with potato peelings; but you can also bake or boil potatoes in their skins - and the French for baked potatoes is 'en obe des champs', which is delightful, but maybe a language too far!

I think I agree with your distinction to the extent that I would use peel as a verb more widely than as a noun: that is, I don't skin tomatoes, although what I remove is skin. Is it skin when it's on, but peel when it's been removed, perhaps?

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I think it may be, yes.