Olives mistaken for grapes; child sick in mother's lap

In the latest of a series of "X mistaken for Y" mishaps, a Spanish child today fell ill after eating what she thought was a grape, but turned out to be an olive. The child was promptly sick all over her mother, slightly ruining the new dress she'd bought for "tramping". [Ed - can you translate the word here for me, translator says it's this but it can't be.]

The six year old child, Erlina Cortzela, was said to be "well as can be expected" following the incident. Her Uncle Gomez told us:

"She is unwell but not too much so. She ate thinking it was a grape, the silly child, but it was one of my queen olives that I gave to the family only last week from my grove. We sell in 200g or 400g jars, large beautiful olives, stones inside or not, only $4. You want now? Gomez' Groves. You find on internet. Girl is sick because of surprise, not quality of produce."

Spanish police had originally arrested the girl's mother on suspicion of feeding her the olive. She was, however, later released without charge.Under Spanish law, parents can be charged for "knowingly polluting a child's palate with flavours that are known to be anathema to a young person's taste". In some provinces, there are statutes prohibiting the sale of certain vegetables to minors.

Although entirely banal, the incident follows a series of unfortunately mistaken objects in which people have been caught out. The following headlines from last week show that capery, japery, and stupidity are on the rise.

• Man mistakes child for car; ignition keys retrieved after surgery
• Woman eats hot dog mistaking it for food
• Phone assumes every swear word you type is supposed to be another word
• Drunk man confuses id with ego