"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...

> >> It's collie-flower, as everyone knows. (smile) I never heard it
> >> called anything else.
> >>
> >> nancy
> >
> > Collie-flower to me, too.

OK, so put me down as one vote "against," then; to
me, it's a lot more like "call-a-flower." The long "e"
sounds wrong to me, too.

This most likely IS a regional thing. However, I do
note (with some smugness...:-)) that the American Heritage
dictionary seems to agree with me. This is also what
you'd expect from their report on the etymology of the
word, from the Italian "cavolo" (cabbage), in turn from
the Latin "caulus" or "caulis" ("stem"), plus "flos" (Latin)
later "fiore" (Ital.) or "flor" (Old French), "flower." In other
words, it's a "stem flower," or "cabbage flower."

I guess I'll have to wait until I get home to get out the big
Webster's for the definitive answer...;-)

Bob M.