In 1747 when Bananas were first shipped from the Caribbean Island of st Ana’s but of cause originally they were not called bananas in fact they had a native island name that was un pronounceable to Europeans so on arrival in London because of their shape and colour they were called Chinamans willies as you can imagine this caused somewhat of a problem with shop keepers trying to sell them i.e. men would only buy them women would be to embarrassed to buy them but in 1748 a woman’s religious group shocked at their husbands bringing home such shocking fruit (or was it disappointment when husbands said to their wife’s "darling would you like a chinamans wily" only to be given a piece of fruit alas we will never know) the women’s group formed a league to have the offending fruit banned but on the first blockade of London Docks violence broke out between the protesters and the ship owners which had tons of fruit onboard their ships, eventually a compromise was reached for when ship owner John Thomas saw the protesters banners flags and placards all reading ban st Ana’s fruit he suggested removing the word st and joining the two words ban anas together and renaming the fruit bananas the rest how they say if history

But isn’t it a shame that today you cant walk into a green grocers and ask for 1lb`s of chinamans willies without getting hit!

p.s the people who liked the name chinamans willies in revenge made the name of the ships Captain John Thomas the double meaning it has today

True Facts by Richard©2005-2006

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