Pampling the moose
I got curious about the origin of pamplemousse; it seemed clear that it came from pample+mousse, and so I wondered what pample meant in French. Babelfish didn't seem to know, so I Googled for more. If the Encyclopædia Mauritiana can be trusted on this point, it turns out that the word is actually a French hobson-jobson. In much the same way that the French word mousseron became the English word mushroom, through mishearing and/or mis-analysis, and Algonquian raugroughcun became English raccoon, the Tamil word bambolmas (for a grapefruit-like fruit "imported by the Dutch from Java") became the French word pamplemousse. So it actually has nothing to do with mousse at all.
I'm sure you will all sleep better knowing that. I know I will.
By the way, the Encyclopædia Mauritiana page about the Royal Botanical Gardens also says:
The Royal Botanical Gardens of Pamplemousses is the highlight of any visit to the north. These world famous gardens were renamed Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens in 1988 in honour of the late Prime Minister [but] many locals still refer to them by the former name.
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam? Okay, that's better than what I originally thought it said (Seewoogasaur, a very silly pink dinosaur of the late Crezoic), but still. Ah, well, I imagine my name would sound just as silly to Sir Seewoosagur.
