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Now, the VOA Special English program |
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Words and Their Stories. |
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Today we tell about the expression |
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"apple pie order." |
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It means "in perfect order, very well organized." |
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Nobody is sure where and when the expression |
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"apple pie order" began. |
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Some say that Scottish and English writers |
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used the expression a long time ago. |
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Others say it first was used |
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in the northeastern American states known as New England. |
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The housewives of New England cut their apples in even slices. |
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Then they filled pie pans with them |
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in an organized way, row upon row. |
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As one writer said, the women of New England |
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loved to have everything in its place. |
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This perhaps explains why it generally |
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is believed that the expression |
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"apple pie order" began in New England. |
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Another old expression describes the opposite condition |
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-- wild disorder. |
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That expression is apple of discord. |
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It comes from ancient mythology. |
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The myth says that all the gods and goddesses |
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were sitting around the table |
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to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. |
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One of the goddesses -- Discord -- was a troublemaker. |
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She threw a golden apple on the table to be given |
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as a prize to the most beautiful goddess. |
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It was not an easy decision to make. |
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How could they choose among Juno, Minerva and Venus. |
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Paris was given the task of deciding. |
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He decided to give the golden apple to Venus. |
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Juno and Minerva were very angry and threatened him. |
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This, the myth says, began the long Trojan war. |
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At one time, the tomato was called a love apple. |
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That was a mistake. This is how the mistake happened: |
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In the sixteenth century, Spain imported the tomato |
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from South America after Spanish explorers had landed there. |
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Spain then exported the tomato to Morocco. |
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Italian traders carried it on to Italy. |
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The Italian name for the tomato |
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was "pomo di Moro" -- apple of the Moors. |
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When French growers imported it from Italy, |
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they thought "di Moro" meant "d'amour" |
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-- the French word for love. |
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And so "pomo di Moro" became the apple of love. |
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People believe many things about the apple. |
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One belief is that it has great powers of |
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keeping people healthy. |
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A very common expression is |
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"an apple a day keeps the doctor away." |
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Another belief is based on fact. |
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The expression is "one rotten apple spoils the barrel." |
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When an apple begins to go bad, |
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it ruins all the other apples around it in the container. |
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The expression has come to mean |
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that one bad person in a group |
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can cause everyone to act bad. |
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You have been listening to the VOA |
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Special English program Words and Their Stories. |
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I'm Warren Scheer. |