Apple-polisher

[GSCole]

I first heard the phrase apple-knocker used by someone who lived down
the
road from Dennis (at MSU), in South Lyon, MI, in the early 1970s.  A son
of the founder of Erwin Farms, he often noted that he was just an
apple-knocker.  Having not heard the phrase before, it was mentally
recorded without bias of any sort.

I merely presumed that he used the term because the main crop of Erwin
Farms, at that time, was apples, which were sold both at the South Lyon
store and at Detroit's Eastern Market, and he had to move crates of
apples around when unloading his truck at the Eastern Market.

Don't know if he thought of himself as a hick, or not, but he was a
member of several boards, both at the campus level for Michigan State
and for the City of Detroit.

George Cole
Shippensburg University