After I first met Claire and we were going out, she often used a term that I wasn\u2019t familiar with and really didn\u2019t know what it meant. I hadn\u2019t thought about it for a long time and a few days ago she used it again \u2014 the first time I remember her saying it in many years. The term or phrase is \u201cHow \u2018bout them apples?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow \u2018bout them apples?\u201d is an idiom \u2014 seems like I\u2019ve talked about idioms quite a bit over the course of writing this blog, but I find them interesting because they\u2019re often used in American lingo. And \u2014 they don\u2019t make any sense to non-English speaking people\u2026. the words or sentence can\u2019t be taken literally \u2014 you can\u2019t deduce the meaning from the words alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My extensive research on this particular idiom revealed a couple of things:
1. The phrase is often used as a way to mock or tease someone after gaining some kind of victory over them. It\u2019s similar to the expression \u201cstick that in your pipe and smoke it!\u201d
2. The saying is also used after someone receives surprising information.
I think the latter is the way Claire uses it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The phrase became kind of famous in the 1997 movie Good Will Hunting<\/em>. The movie stars Matt Damon who plays the character Will Hunting, a mathematical genius working as a school janitor. At one point in the movie he gets into a verbal fight with a rival who was trying to impress a girl. After the exchange, Will Hunting gets the girl\u2019s phone number, and then later, in order to taunt his rival over the argument he walks up to him and initiates the following conversation: Of course, the idiom didn\u2019t come from this movie. The popular belief is that it originated during World War I. During the period 1915 to 1917, the United Kingdom\u2019s Royal Ordinance Factory created a 1 inch medium trench mortar. The bomb was a sphere attached to a 22-inch bomb shaft and resembled a candy apple \u2014 it was given the name \u201ctoffee apple.\u201d The bomb was used by Allied troops, and when firing these mortars at the enemy lines, they would taunt with \u201cHow do you like them apples?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some credence is landed to the theory in the 1959 movie Rio Bravo<\/em>. One of the film\u2019s characters fired a mortar at the enemy, exclaiming \u201cHow do you like them apples\/\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like most of these things, no one is quite sure of the origin \u2014 I found one source that claims the expression dates back to at least the year 1895, claiming it appeared in the Bryan, Texas newspaper The Eagle<\/em>, September 26, 1895: \u201cBryan is the best cotton market in this section of the state and has received more cotton than any other town in this section. How do you like them apples?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now I know that the phrase wasn\u2019t original with Claire \u2014 how \u2018bout them apples?\u00a0 After I first met Claire and we were going out, she often used a term that I wasn\u2019t familiar with and really didn\u2019t know what it meant. I hadn\u2019t thought about it for a long time and a few days … Continue reading
Hunting: \u201cDo you like apples?\u201d
Rival: \u201cYeah.\u201d
Hunting pulls out a piece of paper with the girl\u2019s number written on it and shows it to him.
Hunting: “Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"