OED Appeals: "rotten apple in every barrel"

[Charles Doyle]

There are (at least) two separate proverbs about rotten apples: "There's a rotten (bad) apple in every barrel (box)," and "One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel." The latter is at least as old as the 14th century, the former apparently of 20th-century coinage.

An text from 1943 combines the two (or at least merges the ideas embodied in the two): "The proverbial one rotten apple in every barrel has already done its rotten work and corrupted most of its fellow apples" (_Los Angeles Times_ 7 Oct. 1943). Fred Shapire has found that example.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:27:28 -0400
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: OED Appeals: "rotten apple in every barrel"
>
>At 9:28 PM -0400 9/15/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
At 9/15/2008 06:14 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
there is a rotten/bad apple in every barrel:
antedate 1971
>>>
"Report of the Expose and Ethics Committee of the P.C.A.M. -- I.A.M" by Hubert Brill
>>>_The Linking Ring_  v 19 #8 , Oct 1939 p. 606 col 1.
>>>"Unfortunately there is always one rotten apple in a barrel, which brings me to the unpleasant task of describing the Walter Wanger situation in regard to the current production "Eternally Yours". "
>>
>>Must it be one "in every barrel", or will the assertion suffice that *if* there is one in a barrel it will spoil the rest?  And do we want figurative, or will literal do?
>>
>I've heard the proverb both ways--one rotten apple spoils the barrel, or one rotten apple doesn't spoil the barrel.  The version above is neutral with respect to the influence of that aforementioned apple, or lack thereof, on its neighbors and colleagues.
>
>LH

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