Can someone explain to me why Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating an apple? Why grow apples in your Paradise if you are not supposed to eat them? And anyway, doesn’t an apple a day keep the doctor away?
Have you ever wondered why apples are so plentiful in our myths, legends and popular culture while pears, melons or peaches are rarely mentioned?
William Tell, to prove his prowess in archery, had to shoot an apple off his son’s head. Nowadays the child would probably be required to wear a helmet for protection.
Newton’s theory of gravity supposedly occurred to him when an apple fell on his head. No concussion but an idea instead.
One of Hercules’ labors was to pluck three golden apples from the tree of Hesperides (evening nymphs). It was guarded by a monster.
Paris, Prince of Troy was asked which of three goddesses to award an apple to. He chose Aphrodite. As a reward she promised him the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus. Paris proceeded to abduct Helen and so began the Trojan War.
Snow White ate an apple poisoned by her wicked stepmother and fell into a deep sleep from which only a beautiful prince could awaken her. And so it goes.
Why is New York called the Big Apple?
A personal computer featuring an apple with a missing bite is meant to reassure us with its homey image suggesting that it will be our friend.
An apple supposedly never falls far from the tree, meaning: like father, like son. Said son can also be a bad apple or a rotten apple.
And what were those one-room school teachers supposed to do with all those apples they collected from eager pupils? My guess is they baked that most American of all desserts: Apple Pie.
Hi, You got me wondering and I had to look it up! Although the history of the Big Apple was once thought a mystery, research over the past two decades, primarily by amateur etymologist Barry Popik. and Gerald Cohen of Missouri University of Science and Technology, has provided a reasonably clear picture of the term’s history. Previously, there were a number of false etymologies,including a claim that the term derived from a New York brothel whose madam was known as Eve. This was subsequently exposed as a hoax and has been replaced on the source web site with more accurate… Read more »
This commentary on apples and the research on the Big Apple, have made my day!!
How I enjoy these blogs!!
Thanks. I was hoping for someone to shed some light on this.
Simone
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I just love the way you draw together all of these disparate pieces…it keeps making me see the world in larger and more interconnected ways.
I wonder if one reason for new york as “The Big Apple’ comes from the idea that the city itself is forbidden fruit. It has a long reputation as a place where bad but interesting things happen perhaps?
I find the way you write delicious. I took a bite and want more…