Dried plums: The whole sordid story

Apparently, the renaming of prunes dates back to 2001. A concerned reader sends this important news item:

The Prune Board's newest tactic is to rename the prune. This year, instead of a Prune Festival, there will be a Dried Plum Festival. The Sept. 8-9 gig in Yuba City will try to re-establish the prune as a healthy snack without the laxative connotation. "This is a change that is going on throughout the United States, so we felt we needed to follow suit," Bree Gianassi, managing director of the California Dried Plum Festival, told Reuters. --The Silicon Valley San Jose Business Journal, April 2001

Once your name has a "laxative connotation," it's hell to get rid of it. (See: Pauly Shore.)

"This is a change that is going on throughout the United States, so we felt we needed to follow suit."

What does this mean, exactly? Nationwide, the uncontrolled renaming of fruit was breaking out in the streets?

Furthermore:

And what about hippies with psychedelic memories of The Electric Prunes? How are you supposed to tune in, turn on and drop out with the Electric Dried Plums?

That's right--The Silicon Valley San Jose Business Journal stole my Electric Dried Plums line four years before I wrote it.

Miserable bastards.