OED Appeals list (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Charles Doyle]

"One rotten apple will spoil a whole barrel" is a different proverb from "There's a rotten apple in every barrel"; if you try to combine the two sayings, you'll be left with the proposition that all apples are rotten! The former is as old in English as the 14th century (probably older in Latin). The latter is (apparently) much newer.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 23:33:26 -0400
>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: OED Appeals list (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
>> 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

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