OED Appeals: "rotten apple in every barrel"

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:20 AM -0400 9/16/08, Charles Doyle wrote:
>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

To support the second of the two versions I mention below, there are
1530 raw g-hits for "[one] bad apple doesn't spoil..." (usual
continuations "the whole bunch", "the bunch", "the barrel"), and then
there are the "rotten apple" versions.  A lot more for the positive
counterparts, but the negative version isn't entirely unfruitful.

LH

>_____________________________________________________________
>
>---- 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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