OED Appeals list (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:33 PM -0400 6/21/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>On 6/21/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>>Subject:      OED Appeals list (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>>Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
>>Caveats: NONE
>>
>>
>>there is a rotten/bad apple in every barrel:
>>antedate 1971
>>
>
>Google Books. Rev. J. G. Anderson; _Down Hill and Up Hill_. 1911, p.129
>... [A] rotten apple in the middle of a barrel of sound ones ... will
>rot every one around it.
>
>-Wilson

There's also the version that one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole
bunch.  Are both proverbs (or saws) equally hoary?  Has anyone
performed the crucial experiment?

LH

>
>>"Adolf Rupp Puts Blame On Writers" _The Hartford Courant_; Jan 19, 1951;
>>pg. 17 col 5.
>>"There are a few bad apples in every barrel but by culling them out
>>early you can do much to prevent a recurrence."
>>
>>"KENNEDY ORDERS WAR ON GAMBLING" _New York Times_ ; Feb 24, 1959; pg. 19
>>col 5.
>>"Referring to charges of corruption within the Department, Mr. Kennedy
>>rejected the "platitudinous expression" that "there are always a few
>>rotten apples in every barrel."
>>
>>"City Corruption" [unsigned editorial] _New York Times_ ; Nov 18, 1959;
>>pg. 40 col 2.
>>"We are commonly told that there are a "few bad apples" in every
>>barrel."
>>

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