[QuarterTurn] Try again

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submitted 4 months ago by Stamets@lemmy.world

[QuarterTurn] Try again
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4 months ago

I don't get the joke.

Apple a day keeps the doctor away. Kid tries to keep the "doctor" away so as to avoid the shot. "Doctor" is actually a nurse and would be unaffected by the apple even if the supposed saying were true

TL;DR kid tries metaphor logic on wrong entity

4 months ago

Aah, thanks!

4 months ago

Weird. It's dentist, in the UK. It didn't click that's what they were alluding to until I read your comment

What? That doesn't make any sense! Apples are FULL of sugar!!! Oh you Brits. Always doing things backwards. I remember when I visited London, and there I am, driving like normal on the correct side of the road......and there were issues.

I suppose like all metaphors it's not a 1-1 in literal verbiage but more about the meaning it's supposed to represent.

The meaning it's supposed to represent is: Eating healthy food will keep you healthier, and help you get ill less often. You won't need medical treatment as much if you keep yourself healthy.

I wonder why they drive backwards. Is it because they had cars before standardization?

I'm in the UK, it's definitely "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" here. Maybe you just misheard as a kid?

When I was in primary school someone in my class had to get all their teeth pulled, I have no idea how someone manages to rot their teeth so badly at around 5 years old. I don't really have a point with that story, it just popped into my head and I had to share

4 months ago

Huh. I seeresults for both versions when googling, but it appears it was indeed originally doctor.

4 months ago , edited 4 months ago

Originally it was

Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread

And apparently came from this https://academic.oup.com/nq/article-abstract/s3-IX/217/153/4476237

Lo others have cited this however it’s decades later

https://archive.org/details/rusticspeechfolk00wriguoft/page/n3/mode/2up

Both of which are UK writers, so Americans 🤢got it right