When I was growing up in Chicago -- and there were, and are, a lot of Swedish people in Chicago -- the term "Swede" referred to people named Gustav or Astrid . . . and definitely not to a misshapen root vegetable, which probably would have been viewed as an insult. I'd never heard anyone call it a "Swede" either, until I came across the term in a cookbook a few years ago . . . so when was the R word prohibited? would "yellow turnip" be preferable?

Steamed and mashed with butter and a grating of nutmeg, or roasted and buttered, they're actually pretty tasty, whatever you call them.