At one time, the tomato was called a love apple. That was a mistake. This is how the mistake happened.
In the sixteenth century, Spain imported the tomato from South America after Spanish explorers had landed there. Spain then exported the tomato to Morocco. Italian traders carried it on to Italy. The Italian name for the tomato was pomo di Moro – apple of the Moors.
When French growers imported it from Italy, they thought di Moro meant d'amour, the French word for love. And so pomo di Moro became the apple of love.
People believe many things about the apple. One belief is that it has great powers of keeping people healthy. A very common expression is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Another belief is based on fact. The expression is "One rotten apple spoils the barrel." When an apple begins to go bad, it ruins all the other apples around it in the container. The expression has come to mean that one bad person in a group can cause everyone to act bad.
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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Warren Scheer.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25