I've had some very heated discussions with northeners (hubby included)and scots about swedes which they call turnips ,I say swedes are orange and turnips are white with purple tops .I even took my grandaughters scots friend to a veg stall where they were clearly marked swede but she got quite animated and said no no no they are turnips ,which camp are you in ?
Mrs JtH (a Scot) and I regularly have this conversation.
To her a tumshie/neep/turnip is a large orange vegetable; to me a turnip is white with a purple top....
It can't be that difficult surely. I was under the impression that swedes are so called because they were first imported into the UK by Sweden, and were called Swedish turnips; later shortened to swedes. Surely there's historical evidence as to how they looked ?
Meanwhile any canteen or restaurant I've been to that had mashed or pureed swede provided a dish of orange coloured veg. So swede has to be orange and turnips purple/white.