Maybe, in the middle of winter when the tomatoes are anemic and the eggplant has been well polished after a long trek from California to your kitchen counter, it is not that bad when you have to saw back and forth a little bit to pierce the less than fresh flesh.  Now, however, you've just come back from the farmer's market with a nice tender bunch of early summer turnips, you apply the blade and it is an effort to slice the turnip's tender white flesh.