Historical Usage
Nuts were a major part of the human diet 780,000 years ago including the wild almond, prickly water lily, acorns, pistachio and water chestnut. Prehistoric humans developed an assortment of tools to crack open nuts during the pleistocene period. Aesculus californica was eaten by the Native Americans of California during famines after the toxic constituents were leached out.
Read more about this topic: Nut (fruit)
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or usage:
“Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.”
—William Golding (b. 1911)
“...Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, “It depends.” And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.”
—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)