As sure as god made little green apples

Sure As God Made Green Apples

What does «sure as God made green apples» mean? Does it mean quite sure?

What does «sure as God made green apples» mean? Does it mean quite sure?

Yes. It’s also seen in the elegant variation of «‘little’ green apples». There was even a song with the variant line in it: I don’t remember its title; some sort of C&W stuff, I recall.

«Little Green Apples», naturally enough. Written by Bobby Russell, who also inflicted «Honey» on the charts. allmusic.com lists versions by:

Barbara Acklin
Bill Anderson
Eddy Arnold
Charlie Barnet
Gene Bertoncini
Acker Bilk
Everton Blender
Bloodstone
Dennis Brown
Ray Bryant
Max Bygraves
Gene Chandler
Johnny Clarke
Ben Colder (doubtless a parody)
Ray Conniff
Vic Damone
Roy Drusky
Escorts
Ferrante
Four Tops
Bobbie Gentry
Bobby Goldsboro
Monk Higgins
Burl Ives
Tom Jones
Ben E King
Frankie Laine
Lester Lanin
Dean Martin
Ralph McTell
Roy Meriwether
Roger Miller
Tony Mottola
OC Smith
Patti Page
Ray Price
Gary Puckett
Joe Simon
Frank Sinatra
There’s a few in there that I’d definitely consider «C&W» (Anderson, Miller and Price, without hesitation), but you’d have to do a lot of explaining to hang that tag on Bygraves or Sinatra..r

Yes. It’s also seen in the elegant variation of «‘little’ green apples». There was even a song with the variant line in it: I don’t remember its title; some sort of C&W stuff, I recall.

Yes. It’s also seen in the elegant variation of «‘little’ green apples». There was even a song with the variant line in it: I don’t remember its title; some sort of C&W stuff, I recall. Cheers, Sage

Pure dreck set to a catchy tune:
http://www.geocities.com/odetobobbiegentry/lyric/llittle.htm
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

«it’s the network. » «The Journey is the reward» (Email Removed) Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Yes, you’re right. What I’d like to know is what happened to Teicher? Had he taken his piano home by then?

Strangely enough, it was «Little Green Apples». The version I remember was Roger Miller’s.

43 сочных идиомы о фруктах и овощах

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Всем привет. Сегодня мы насобирали для вас целых пятьдесят спелых английских идиом про фрукты и овощи. Тут реально выражения на все случаи жизни: и про жизнь, и про поломанные автомобили, и даже про рыжих людей. В общем, подборку в студию.

Содержание статьи:

Фруктовые идиомы на английском с переводом

1. To compare apples and oranges – Сравнивать яблоки с апельсинами. То есть сравнивать что-то, что вообще не должно поддаваться сравнению друг с другом.

2. The apple of an eye – Глазное яблоко. Так можно сказать про хорошего человека.

3. The apple never falls far from the tree – Яблоко от яблони не далеко падает. Про неудачу или плохой поступок человека, который является сыном такого же хулигана или неудачника.

4. As American as apple pie – Американский как яблочный пирог. Так говорят про что-то исконно культурно американское.

5. As sure as God made little green apples – Уверен настолько же, насколько в том, что Бог создал маленькие зеленые яблочки. То есть определенно уверен.

6-7. To be a bad apple или to be a rotten apple – перевод идиомы звучит как «быть плохим/гнилым яблоком». Быть плохим человеком.

8-9. One bad (or rotten) apple spoils the whole bunch (or barrel) – Одно плохое яблоко портит всю ветку (или всю бочку). Ложка дегтя портит бочку меда. То есть один плохой человек плохо влияет на всю группу, или что-то незначительное перечеркивает все хорошее.

10. How do you like them apples? – Как вам эти яблоки? Так мы с насмешкой спрашиваем о человека о его отношении к тому, что происходит. Обычно когда происходит что-то нехорошее.

11. To polish one’s apple – полировать чье-то яблоко. То есть льстить человеку. Про любителей льстить можно сказать apple polisher.

12. To upset the apple cart – переворачивать тележку с яблоками. Последнее выражение про яблоки в этой подборке, которое означает «рушить чьи-то планы.

13. To be in cherry condition – быть в состоянии вишни. Это означает, что что-то хорошо держится, восстанавливается и не портится.

14. To cherry-pick – собирать вишни. Тщательно что-то перебирать.

15. Life is a bowl of cherries – Жизнь – это тарелка с вишнями. Что это значит? Что жизнь – простая штука.

16. The cherry on top – Вишенка сверху. Значение выражения – вишенка на торте.

17. A banana republic – банановая республика. Так насмешливо говорят про бедную страну с неустойчивым режимом.

18–19. A top banana – главный банан, то есть лидер. A second banana – второй банан, то есть человек, не являющийся здесь главным.

20–21. To go bananas – сходить с ума. Если мы говорим про человека, который сводит с ума других, то можно использовать выражение to drive bananas.

22. To be full of beans – Быть полным бобов. Не понимать чего-то и говорить глупости

23. Not worth a hill of beans – Не стоит и кучки бобов. Что-то бесполезное.

24. To spill the beans – Рассыпать бобы. Рассказывать чужие секреты, распространять слухи.

25. Do not give a fig – не дать и фиги (это фрукт, если что). Идиома означает «быть безразличным».

26. A lemon – лимон. Какая-то дешевая, бракованная или поломанная вещь. Обычно речь идет об автомобилях с пробегом.

27. Melon – дынька. Так часто называют большую голову или женскую грудь.

28. You are a peach – Ты просто персик. Комплимент человеку, который хорошо выглядит.

29. Everything is peaches and cream – Все в персиках и сливках. Все просто замечательно.

30. A plum job – сливовая работа. Очень хорошая и желанная.

31. Someone having sour grapes – перевод идиомы – У кого-то кислый виноград. Такую фразу говорят про человека, который не может чего-то добиться сам, и чтобы справиться с комплексами принижает то, чего добились другие.

32. As cool as a cucumber – Крутой, как огурец. Человек с сильным самообладанием, который умеет держать себя в сложный стрессовых ситуациях.

33. To pass an olive branch – Передавать оливковую ветку. Примирять кого-то.

34. A carrot top – морковноголовый. Человек с рыжими волосами.

35. To dangle a carrot before someone – трясти перед кем-то морковкой. Манипулировать человеком, обещая что-то взамен, вести как осла за морковкой.

36. A pea-brained person – человек с горохом в мозгах. Глупый человек.

37. As thick as pea soup – густой как гороховый суп. Что-то густое и вязкое. Иногда так говорят про туман.

38. To be like two peas in a pod – Быть как две горошины в стручке. Быть похожими во всем (как две капли воды).

39. A couch potato – диванная картошка. Ленивый человек, который постоянно сидит перед телевизором и ничего не делает.

40. Small potatoes – маленькие картошки. Что-то незначительное. Другими словами, что-то, что «не стоит кучки бобов».

41. A hot potato – горячая картошка. Мы можем так сказать про какую-то проблему, которую не знаем, как решить, и перебрасываем ее на другого подобно горячей картошке.

42. To be in a pickle – быть в рассоле. Такое бывает, когда вы испытываете жизненные трудности.

43. Salad days – салатные дни. Зеленые деньки, про юность и молодость.

Для любителей вкусных идиом оставим ссылку на другую нашу подборку — 27 английских идиом о еде.

Типичные ошибки новичков

Как эффективнее запоминать идиомы

Только что вы прочитали 43 выражения. Попробуйте сейчас не подглядывая вспомнить максимальное количество из них. При хорошем раскладе вы поднапряжете память и вспомните 15-25. Через час вы забудете половину от этого, а через неделю вспомните от силы пять. Так работает наша память, мы не привыкли запоминать рандомную информацию из Интернета. Зато если вы будете следовать нескольким правилам, то сможете ввести несколько десятков выражений в активный словарный запас.

И напоследок оставим здесь залипательное видео о том, как правильно нарезать все виды фруктов.

На этом будем с вами прощаться. Wish your life to be a bowl of cherries!

EnglishDom #вдохновляемвыучить

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Несколько идиом о фруктах и овощах

Posted on 2014-07-22 by admin in Всякая всячина // 1 Comment

idioms о фруктах и овощах

Fruit and Vegetables idioms

1. to compare “apples and oranges” – «сравнивать яблоки с апельсинами» — смысл идиомы в том, что бессмысленно сравнивать абсолютно разные вещи.

2. Сказать, что “the apple never falls far from the tree” – значит, предположить, что характер человека очень близок к характеру его родителей, по-нашему «яблоко от яблони недалеко падает».

3. “as American as apple pie” – «это так по-американски, как яблочный пирог» — означает, что что-то очень присуще культуре Америки.

4. “(as) sure as God made little green apples” – так говорят, когда стараются убедить в чем-то — «голову даю на отсечение, можете не сомневаться». 5. to “upset the apple cart” — «перевернуть тележку с яблоками» — значит, развалить планы.

6. A “banana republic” – «банановая республика» — слабая, неразвитая стана.

7. Если о состоянии чего-либо говорят “cherry condition” – это означает, что нечто или некто хорошо сохранился.

8. А вот “to cherry-pick” – это внимательно, придирчиво что-то выбирать.

9. “Life is a bowl of cherries” – «жизнь – это ваза с черешней» (дословный перевод) означает, что жизнь легка.

10. Если про человека говорят “peach” (персик), значит, он красив, а если так назвать какой-то предмет, значит, он сладкий и замечательный.

11. Если все “peaches and cream”, а по-нашему — «в шоколаде», значит, дела идут прекрасно.

12. A “plum” – так говорят о работе, которую очень хотят получить.

13. A “carrot top” – так называют рыжеволосого человека.

14. Человек “pea-brained” – значит глупый, придурковатый.

15. Про туман или что-то очень густое можно сказать “as thick as pea soup” (густой, как гороховый суп).

16. Если что-то “small potatoes” – значит, это является незначительным.

17. “Salad days” – так говорят о молодых годах жизни.

Фрукты и овощи часто используются фигурально, особенно из-за своего цвета, например, “beet red” (так говорят о том, кто краснеет от смущения). Сами слова fruit и vegetable фигурируют во многих идиоматических фразах, например:

50 Idioms About Fruits and Vegetables

Food, one of the necessities of life, figures often in traditional expressions. Fruits and vegetables, specifically, account for some of the most familiar idioms, including the following.

Fruit

1. To compare “apples and oranges” is to uselessly compare unlike things.
2. The “apple of (one’s) eye” is a favorite or well-like person.
3. To say that “the apple never falls far from the tree” is to suggest that a person’s personality traits are close to those of the person’s parents.
4. “As American as apple pie” means that something is quintessentially representative of American culture or values.
5. “(As) sure as God made little green apples” suggests certainty.
6–12. To be a “bad apple” or a “rotten apple” is to be a bad person. Meanwhile, to say that “one bad (or rotten) apple spoils the whole bunch (or barrel)” implies that one flawed element or person can undermine an effort or a group, and to be “rotten to the core” is to be thoroughly bad or worthless.
13–14. “How do you like them apples?” (or “How about them apples?”) is a neutral or taunting comment, depending on the context, that refers to an undesirable state or situation.
15–16. To “polish (one’s) apple” is to flatter someone; a flatterer is an “apple polisher.”
17. To “upset the apple cart” is to ruin plans.
18. A “banana republic” is a weak or corrupt country.
19–20. A “second banana” is a subordinate, and the “top banana” is the leader.
21–22. To “go bananas” is to become excited or crazed, and “to drive (someone) bananas” is to annoy or irritate someone.
23. Something in “cherry condition” is excellently maintained or restored.
24. To “cherry-pick” is to select carefully.
25. “Life is a bowl of cherries” means that life is easy.
26. To “not give a fig” is to be unconcerned.
27. A “lemon” is a flawed or worthless item; the idiom often refers to a vehicle.
28. “Melon” is sometimes used as slang for head or, vulgarly, for large breasts.
29. To say that someone or something is a “peach” means that they are beautiful, excellent, or sweet.
30. When everything is “peaches and cream,” life is going well.
31. A “plum” assignment or job is a highly coveted one.
32. One is said to have “sour grapes” when one belittles something one covets but cannot obtain.

Vegetables

33–36. To be “full of beans” is to talk nonsense, and to “not know beans” is to be ignorant or uninformed. To be “not worth a hill of beans” is to be worthless, and to “spill the beans” is to tell a secret.
37–38. To “dangle a carrot” before someone is to encourage them with an incentive, and the carrot in “carrot and stick” is an incentive or reward. (The stick is the punishment.)
39. A “carrot top” is a red-haired person.
40. Someone “as cool as a cucumber” is very self-possessed under pressure.
41. To “pass an olive branch” is to make peaceful or reconciliatory overtures.
42. A “pea-brained” person is stupid.
43. Fog or something else very dense can be described as being “as thick as pea soup.”
44. To be “like two peas in a pod” is to be very close with or similar to someone.
45. To be “in a pickle” is to experience complication.
46. A “couch potato” is someone who spends an excessive amount of time seated watching television or playing video games.
47–48. A “hot potato” is a controversial or difficult issue, but to “drop (someone or something) like a hot potato” is to abandon the person or thing.
49. Something that is “small potatoes” is insignificant.
50. “Salad days” refers to the youthful period of one’s life.

Fruits and vegetables figure occasionally in figurative references to color, such as “beet red” (the color of embarrassment), or descriptions of specific hues, like “cherry red,” as well as other comparisons, including “pear shaped.” The words fruit and vegetable themselves appear occasionally in idiomatic phrases, including the following:

To “bear fruit” is to produce results.
“Forbidden fruit” is something attractive but not allowed.
The “fruits of one’s labors” are the results of the person’s efforts.
To “become a vegetable” is to be rendered physically disabled or to virtually cease physical activity.

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13 Responses to “50 Idioms About Fruits and Vegetables”

“The ‘apple of (one’s) eye’ is a favorite or well-like person,”
is very poor English.

The correct writing or speech is the following:
“The ‘apple of one’s eye’ is a favorite or well-liked person,”
with the “d” on the end of “liked”.

You remind me of the “Can Vegetables” aisle in the grocery store.
Nope, it is the the “Canned Vegetables” aisle.
Also, the “Canned Fruit” aisle, and also “canned soup”, not “can soup”.

“French fried potatoes,” and not “French fry potatoes.”
“Mashed potatoes,” and not “mash potatoes”.
“Whipped cream,” and not “whip cream.”

Also, do not write, “We are taking a brake. Please bare with us,”
as I have seen before.
D.A.W.

“To become a vegetable,” is to be rendered mentally disabled, and not necessarily physically.

In callous hospital speech (My sister is an M.D.), “to go water the vegetables”, is to go give fluids via stomach tubes to seriously-injured patients who have become mental vegetables — often via severe strokes.

I am confident that, “The ‘apple of (one’s) eye’ is a favorite or well-like person,” is a simple typo. The lack of an edit function here makes those extremely plentiful. Though I’m sure MN edits, come on, give the guy a “brake”. After all, we got half the Bible from scriptos!* 😉

I agree that being a vegetable implies mental, not physical, disability.

*Not intended as a literal literal comment.

Not enough space here…………but the origins of some of these idioms and cliches are very interesting………many from classic tales, scriptures, and fables with a morality message. Also…….

#24. To “cherry-pick” is more than to select carefully. It is to select with selfish regard by not sharing or taking responsibility for any of the inferior or less-than-perfect products, results, duties, or rewards that inherently go along with the good parts.

#26. To “not give a fig” is to be unconcerned, not because a “fig” is worthless, but to avoid using of a similar sounding obscenity.

#49. “small potatoes” is more than insignificant; it is something not worth the effort (i.e., you’ll get the same results with less effort from peeling a large potato than from the extra effort spent peeling a bunch of small ones).

Thanks for the wonderful daily dose of good sense — I always look forward to it.

It has bothered me for years, though, the business of the carrot and the stick. It’s generally used these days in the sense of reward and punishment, as you say. But I remember, as a child, a different explanation for the idiom. It was an illustration of a horse pulling a ramshackle wagon. The driver, to get the animal to move along and to spare himself the effort of driving him with a whip, tied a carrot at the end of a long stick, which he then affixed to the harness. The carrot dangled in front of the horse’s nose, and the horse reached out for it and then kept moving along as it stayed continually out of reach. The driver could just take a nap. The stick isn’t punishment, but a means of keeping the horse moving ahead without the driver needing to expend any effort.

Here in Australia, “full of beans” implies ‘lively, exciteable’ or even ‘agitated.’

In the UK too, “full of beans” is full of energy, lively and active.

I must disagree with #38: “Carrot and stick” is an incentive that offers an unattainable reward. The saying comes from the situation where a carrot is attached by string attached to a stick that is anchored to a mule’s halter, so that the carrot dangles in front of the animal. The mule steps toward the carrot in order to get close enough to eat it; of course, the carrot, attached as it is to the mule, is always dangling just out of reach. I’ve noticed in recent decades the stick part of this scenario somehow has morphed into a punishment; I believe this is a distortion of the original meaning of “carrot and stick”. Notice that you don’t see “carrot or stick,” which would make more sense if the carrot is the reward and the stick is the punishment.

@Anne – the OED disagrees with you, I believe.

“carrot, sb. Add: 1. a. fig. [With allusion to the proverbial method of tempting a donkey to move by dangling a carrot before it.] An enticement, a promised or expected reward; freq. contrasted with “stick” (=punishment) as the alternative.”

See brians/errors/carrot.html and others…

No, the OED is disagreeing with Anne. She is saying that the carrot and stick were NOT contrasted, but rather a set making one unattainable goal. That as opposed to a “choice” or difference between reward and punishement, as the phrase is usuallly used now. I don’t know the origin of the term, but it well may be another example like “begs the question” in which the original, better in terms of uniqueness descriptiveness, meaning has been superseded by a new, more mundane one. Perhaps a mirage of an oasis would be a classic example of a carrot and stick enticement to keep crawling through the desert.

“Full of prunes,” which meant that the indicated person either didn’t know what they were talking about or were intentionally speaking falsely, i.e. “When Jake told Linda she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met she knew he was full of prunes.” A variant from the Depression-era was “banana oil,” as in “He’s full of banana oil.”

Also, “as alike as two peas in a pod,” which indicated two things were identical in appearance (often applied to identical twins).

There are also all the fruit/vegetable terms to indicate money (i.e. bananas, cabbage, lettuce, etc.).

Since I’m not British my context on this one may be a bit iffy, but I’ve heard the British comedian Benny Hill refer to buxom women as “all that meat and no potatoes.” Whether that’s a common phrase I don’t know, but I’ll throw it out there.

Of course a person who is mentally ill may be called “nuts” or “nutty as a fruitcake.”

When a person has been in the water for a while they “prune” and us old folks get to looking pretty pruney.

Then there is “corny” comedy, “cornball” jokes, and the Cornbread Mafia (a Southern-US criminal syndicate).

“We go together like peas and carrots” means two people are highly compatible.

To “veg out” means to relax and take it easy, probably in front of the TV or similar entertainment. (see ‘couch potato’)

I have GOT to get a different hobby.

Given that the Winston Churchill allegedly used the phrase in 1943: “We shall continue to operate on the Italian donkey at both ends, with a carrot and with a stick” it would appear that if there has been a shift away from “a carrot on a stick” it happened a long time ago 🙂

Worldwide Words says:

The combination of carrot and stick, with the image of an animal being offered a tasty encouragement at one end while being thumped with a stick at the other, is of the nineteenth century:

It was this carrot and stick discipline to which Mr. John Mill was subjected, and which he accepted dutifully as flowing from that perfect wisdom of which up to this time his father had been the representative.

[The Reality of Duty: As Illustrated by the Autobiography of Mr John Stuart Mill, by Lord Blatchford; Contemporary Review, August 1876.]
–

As sure as god made little green apples

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.

Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.

Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce «The Big Apple,» a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey’s Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.

Also listen to a 1937 «The Big Apple» song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.

This site is edited by Barry Popik.

«As sure as God made little green apples” means extremely sure. The ssaying “as sure as God made apples” has been cited in print since at least 1828, “the good Lord made green apples” has been cited in print since at least 1895 and “sure as somebody made little green apples” has been cited since at least 1904. “Little green apples” has become the more popular form of the phrase.

The author of the saying is not known and it’s also not known why “green apples” is used, but apples were very popular in the United States in the 19th century, far ahead of all other fruits. Also, the apple was believed by many at the time to have been the forbidden fruit (some scholars claim the fruit was a quince) specified in the biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Idioms Glossary
as sure as God made little green apples
Definition: Something is an absolute certainty.
Explanation: A Christian with lots of faith has no doubt at all that God made little green apples and everything else on earth.

Google Books
Sayings and Doings; Or Sketches from Life
Third Series
Vol. III
London: Henry Coburn
1828
Pg. 291:
“Mr. F., as sure as God made apples,” cried the terrified Thespian.

25 July 1875, Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune, “Old Uncle Billy,” pg. 7:
That’s as sure as God made apples.

Google Books
Harold Saxon:
A story of the church and the world
By Alan Muir
London: Smith, Elder, & Co.
1880
Pg. 136:
“True as God made apples,” Tabitha Eve replied.

Google Books
The True Story of St. Paul’s Industrial School,
as told by its young inmates, their parents and friends
Edited by Elizabeth Surr
London: Blades, East & Blades
1882
Pg. 8:
He says, all is true “as God made apples.”

5 June 1895, Hamilton (OH) Daily Republican, “One Doctor Bundy,” pg. 3, col. 2:
If Peter had said a word Joe would have jumped him as sure as the good Lord made green apples.

5 December 1903, Oregonian (Portland, OR), pg. 11:
The Willamette Valley Association will carrry over a large stock, just as sure as God made green apples.

Chronicling America
4 December 1904, New York (NY) Daily Tribune, “Miss Harding’s Last Game” by Frederick Upton Adams, Sunday Magazine, pg. 12, col. 1:
“Let that ball alone, you slab-sided, broken-horned derelict! She’s got it, Carter, and she’ll swallow it sure as somebody made little green apples.”

2 March 1907, Warsaw (IN) Daily Union, “Too Quick in Action,” pg. 10, cols. 1-2:
He was wide open all right, and there was a big delivery wagon unloading stuff in the back end of his warehouse, and as sure as the Lord made little green apples that wagon was from Brown & Co.—firm I’m with, you know.

Chronicling America
5 September 1912, Mathews Journal (Mathews Court House, VA), pg. 3, col. 6:
The Lord made little green apples, but the Lord knows who made little boys to eat them.—Alexandria Gazette.

Google Books
October 1916, The Green Book Magazine, “As the Cat Jumps” by William Harper Dean, pg. 691:
“He’ll maul the kid sure’s God made little green apples!”

3 September 1920, Kansas City (MO) Star, “The Killer” by Stewart Edward White, pg. 29:
Or rather, bless him; for as I just said, if he had not tolled away our mounted pursuit we would have been caught as sure as God made little green apples.

OCLC WorldCat record
God made little green apples
Author: Frank Elliott
Publisher: Boone, N.C. : DML Productions, 1977.
Edition/Format: Book : Fiction : English

Posted by Barry Popik
New York City • Food/Drink • (0) Comments • Thursday, July 28, 2011 • Permalink