Although officially this plant is called Aloe-Vera. However unofficially it's called "Mother-In-Law's Tongue" or "Saas Ki Zabaan" In the Urdu language of my country - Because it's long, ugly, with thorns on either side of it, as well as pretty tough to get rid off once it gets firmly rooted in your house. Even though it's a and highly beneficial and medicinal plant, (useful as a plant rooting agent too when your propagating other plants by cutting). But because of it's physical appearance, it's often referred to as your mother-in-law's tongue... Anyhow there is a pretty funny story behind how I learned this name, from my father, when I was 7 years old, (and so since that day till today, I now can't help but see the face of my late maternal grandmother in this plant)... In fact I myself actually started referring to this plant as "Aama Ki Zabaan", meaning big mama's tongue! It's actually no secret that I really loathed my maternal grandmother, I still do, and forever will. However I'll talk about that story later in the thread, if anyone really wants to know - For now I just want to ask, if there are any other official or unofficial plant names which too are in a way really hitting at home??? Editing this posted: I just did a little Googling, and discovered that in rest of the world the Snake Plant is sometimes called "mother-in-law's tongue" (Which isn't thorny, see picture below) - However in my part of the world and my household in particular, it's the Aloe-Vera plant that we call mother-in-law's tongue.
Over here in the UK the Aloe Vera is that name and the second pic is the mother- in laws tongue and snake plant in other countries as well.
Mother in law tongue is also the second pic here in the us. It’s a long sharp tongue - reference to sharp critic .
So a Western mother-in-law only has a long and sharp tongue. While a Pakistani one is not just long and sharp, but is also encrusted with thorns as well - Makes perfect sense!
