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Expressions with ‘Fruit’ and Fruit Names! – English Teacher Melanie

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Melanie

Expressions with ‘Fruit’ and Fruit Names!

October 5, 2011 by Melanie 4 Comments

Photo by Christine)

If you have watched the video “34 Fruit Names in English,” you know that there are a wide variety of fruit available in supermarkets here in Canada. In English, we also use names of fruit in a lot of phrases and idioms! Here are some examples:

 

 

Comparing apples and / to / with oranges

Apples and oranges are completely different: they look different, they taste different, and they smell different. You can’t compare them because they’re so different. If you ‘compare apples to oranges,’ you are comparing two very different things.

I’m a big fan of Twilight, and I prefer Jacob to Edward, but comparing vampires and werewolves is a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

The magazine article compared the performance of stocks to bonds last year, which is comparing apples to oranges.

Note: this expression only works using ‘apples’ and ‘oranges.’ In English, it’s a fixed expression, so you can’t use other fruit names.

 

The fruits of one’s labour

This idiom is used to talk about the result of someone’s labour, or someone’s work.

My sister spent a long time planning the family reunion, and now that the day is here she can enjoy the fruits of her labour.

Here it is! The fruits of my labour: a new post on ‘fruit idioms’!

It is interesting to note that this expression possibly came from the Bible:

Psalm 128:2 (NIV): You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

 

to cherry pick

(verb)
To pick something means to choose or select something from a group; to cherry pick something means to choose or select only the best.

George Clooney is such a successful actor that he can now cherry pick the films he wants to do.

Should doctors be able to cherry-pick patients? (Headline, Globe and Mail newspaper)

Don’t cherry-pick NHS findings, minister. (Headline, Guardian newspaper)

 

Bananas

Not only is it a fruit, but you can also use bananas to mean ‘crazy’ or ‘excited’ or ‘angry.’

My mom went bananas when she found out I crashed her car. (angry/crazy)

I keep seeing the same commercial over and over again on TV. It’s driving me bananas! (crazy)

As soon as Justin Bieber appeared on stage, the crowd went bananas. (excited/crazy)

 

When life hands you / gives you lemons, make lemonade!

You can’t eat a lemon by itself. The taste is horrible. It’s very sour. However, you can use lemons to make a sweet drink called lemonade! So, if you experience something bad in life, try to turn it into a positive experience! You can say this expression to someone when you want to encourage or motivate him/her to make the best of a bad situation.

I’m so sorry that you didn’t make the football team. You know, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

 

Do you have any interesting fruit idioms in your language?

 

Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized, Vocabulary Tagged With: expressions, idioms

Comments

  1. Fabriny says

    June 30, 2012 at 8:31 am

    We do have some interesting fruit idioms in french. For example:
    – tomber dans les pommes = to fall into the apples (which means to faint)
    – être haut comme trois pommes = to be as tall as three apples (used to describe a very small person)
    – avoir la pêche = to have the peach (to be full of energie, to feel like a million bucks)
    and a funny one:
    – se prendre une pêche en pleine poire = to get a peach right in the pear (here we compare a punch with a peach and the face (the nose exactly) with a pear. So it means to receive a punch on the face)
    and with all of this we make a joke:
    “Quel est le sport le plus fruité? la Boxe. On se prend une pêche en pleine poire et on tombe dans les pommes.
    (what the most fruity sport? boxing. You get a peach right on the pear and you fall on the apples) But I think it sounds meanless to an english speaker
    🙂

    Reply
    • Melanie says

      June 30, 2012 at 8:47 pm

      Those are great idioms, Fabriny!

      You’re right – the joke sounds funnier in French! In English, if someone or something is ‘fruity’ or ‘a fruitcake,’ it means that person is a little strange or crazy!
      http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/fruitcake
      http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/fruity

      = )

      Reply

  2. ayoy says

    April 2, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    thanks

    Reply
  3. Miên Nguyễn says

    December 28, 2013 at 10:27 am

    i’m the apple of my father’s eye.
    how about that?
    that’s it
    thanks a lot!

    Reply

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