Il discorso del banana

What is a banana? By any other name, would it smell as sweet?

Of all the fruits in all the lands, why must it be one as (un)ambiguously phallic as a banana?

Let me start from square one. During my first week in Florence, I went to Lush Cosmetics to buy some body lotion. While paying, I overheard the two sales associates discussing in Italian whether I was a banana or an orange. It left me feeling perplexed and a bit hurt to be reduced to a fruit!

Then, about a month ago, while walking home from Twice with Rob on a Friday night, a guy asked us if we were bananas ("Siete banane?"). We looked confused so he clarified and asked if we were locals. Before he could ask us any more, we turned off and left.

Finally, and yet not so finally since it is still a mystery to me, while walking to the Duomo with my relatives on Saturday, I heard someone yell "banana" in my direction.

WTML?!?!

Banana to me has the following significances:

• the fruit I eat every morning to help reduce leg cramps
• with Nicky, Minesweep for "congratulations"
• in Vancouver, a person who is Asian (yellow) but acts Caucasian (white)

I have asked the calabresi, my teacher at school, and some of my cousins, but no one knows what it means--and further, I'm pretty sure some of these people think I'm crazy now. It's a mystery that I would very much like to solve, and at the same time, it's an answer to a question that I wouldn't mind leaving unanswered. And while we're at it, what's an orange?

Today's word of the day is discorso, meaning "speech" or "discourse".