Idiom - Gooseberry

Also known as:

-The third wheel
-The fourth beat of a waltz
-The third singer of a duet

It means: To be the odd man out, to be / feel out of place

"I was at a bar with Bob and Cindy last night; it was terrible! I hate playing gooseberry"

OK. The meaning is clear. But why is the word gooseberry used?

What connection is there to a fruit?

0 00The term playing gooseberry is used in an02br
00idiomatic expression unique to the British and the Canadians. To play a02br
00gooseberry is very much like being referred to as “the third wheel.”02br
00The gooseberry may accompany a romantically linked couple on a date. It02br
00is hard to determine if the expression derives from the fact th

0It's because in Victorian England, people used to say that babies are found under gooseberry bushes, when avoiding telling children about ***. 0-

Gooseberry was an old English euphemism for the Devil, who is unwelcome...

Anonymous It is hard to determine if the expression derives from the fact that the single person may blush from the romantic doings of the couple, thus resembling a gooseberry

Gooseberies are green! strange blush!!!

but they go pink when ripe

Almost all references I've seen to playing gooseberry seem to make the gooseberry in question unwanted and unneeded. As someone who's life role is seemingly to be the gooseberry, I disagree with that. The gooseberry can be a person invited along to punctuate the nervous silences on first dates; a veritable jester for the lovestruck.
I could carry on with some misanthropic rantings but I'm su

AnonymousGooseberry was an old English euphemism for the Devil, who is unwelcome...

This is in interesting theory. May I ask where you found it. As a teacher of English, have been unable to explain the ORIGINS of the idiom: to play gooseberry to someone (although I understand the meaning.

gooseberry-picker was an early 19th century term for a chaperone. The chaperone would occupy themselves picking gooseberries.