[General] "depending on which side of yarrow you are on" - meaning?

[Olympian]

Hello,

What is the meaning of "depending on which side of yarrow you are on"?

The appears in the following sentence: "Another eating disorder is pica, or "pye-cuh", depending which you side of the yarrow you're on."

Thank you

 

[emsr2d2]

It means nothing to me. Where did you find that sentence? It's important to quote your source.

 

[bhaisahab]

Could it be the river Yarrow? If so it could be in the USA, the UK, or Australia.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

I am sure I've heard this before, as a child, and given the context at the time I assumed it was the river Yarrow in Lancashire.

I have since discovered that the name 'Yarrow' is a generic name word for river (like Fido the dog) and as a result there are many river Yarrows in England, and elsewhere.

The OP's phrase certainly suggests that people on one side of the Yarrow pronounce things one way, and people on the other side pronounce them differently. It is perhaps a little arcane.

 

[Gillnetter]

I am not a teacher.

I am sure I've heard this before, as a child, and given the context at the time I assumed it was the river Yarrow in Lancashire.

I have since discovered that the name 'Yarrow' is a generic name word for river (like Fido the dog) and as a result there are many river Yarrows in England, and elsewhere.

The OP's phrase certainly suggests that people on one side of the Yarrow pronounce things one way, and people on the other side pronounce them differently. It is perhaps a little arcane.

I came to the same conclusion after some basic research. As far as "Yarrow" being a generic name, it may be in England but not in the US. As far as I could find out there is no Yarrow River in the US. At first reading I thought of the Yarrow plant.

 

[Raymott]

Isn't there a Yarrow Liver in China?
Sorry, ;-)

 

[emsr2d2]

I considered various options: a river called the Yarrow (but it would have been capitalised and referred to as "the Yarrow"), a town/city called Yarrow (but it would have been capitalised) and the plant. I discounted the first two for the reasons given and the plant doesn't make any sense. No doubt, many years ago it had a perfectly logical explanation which has been lost in the mists of time. It seems clear, though, that it refers to the two possible pronunciations of "pica" - "pee-cuh" and "pie-cuh".

 

[Olympian]

Thank you all for responding. I apologize for not replying earlier and for not giving some more context in my OP.

The person saying the sentence is an Australian professor in an MOOC on 'Food, Nutrition and Health'.

The only yarrow I had read about was the yarrow sticks used in I Ching (Book of Changes, pronounced yi jing), which is a Chinese divination method.

 

[BobK]

I doubt if the I Ching comes into it. I know nothing about Australian dialectology. There is a River Yarrow in Australia, and it might be used as a recognized line of distinction between dialects. (There is also the possibility that the reference is to such a line on British dialect maps, and Australian English sometimes preserves native UK dialect features - the words 'dunny' and 'cobber', for example.) In either case, I think it's pretty likely that it's referring to a river.

b

 

[Jaskin]

Not a teacher.

Hi,

Is it possible that "pye-cuh" is Scottish/Celtic pronounciation ? If so then perhaps Yarrow refers to the Yarrow Water which is a border river.

Cheers

 

[bhaisahab]

I'd say that's pretty much the usual English pronunciation.