Teach Me

R.A. Nelson

According to the U.S. Apple Association, giving apples to teachers probably originated with "apple polishers," students in early American one-room schoolhouses who gifted their teachers with apples to distract them from their poor performance, resulting in the rhyme, "An apple for the teacher    will always do the trick when you don't know your lesson in arithmetic."

CliffsNotes suggests that the practice started in Denmark, Sweden and the United States in the 1700s, when poor farming students paid their teachers with food. The apple may have been chosen because "A is for apple" and A is the grade the student wants, or because of the Biblical story of the apple growing on the Tree of Knowledge.

Read more: When did the apple become the symbol of education? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2111000#ixzz2CI9vh2df

Legends, folklore, and traditions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_%28symbolism%29In North America an American Indian (Native American) is called an "apple" (a slur that stands for someone who is "red on the outside, white on the inside.") primarily by other American Indians to

indicate someone who has lost touch with their cultural identity. First used in the 1980s.[7]

Apples feature frequently in fairy tales. A well-known example is "Snow White", in which a poisonous apple puts Snow White to sleep. In Le piacevoli notti (The Facetious Nights) of

Giovanni Francesco Straparola, apples appear in four stories.[8]

Savior of the Apple Feast Day is celebrated on August 19 in Russia and Ukraine. A boatbuilder's superstition holds that it is unlucky to build a boat out of wood from an apple tree

because this wood was previously used to manufacture coffins.[9]

Since 1990, Apple Day has been held across the UK and beyond, on October 21. This is a festival created by charity Common Ground to support localism: folksongs, biodiversity, buried orchards,

children's games. Swiss folklore holds that William Tell shot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow.

Irish folklore claims that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband's initials. Danish folklore says that apples wither around adulterers.[citation needed]

A popular folk art involves a process to turn apples into wrinkly representations of human heads, usually be placed on dolls.[10]

In 1975, Vincent Price promoted a horror-themed kit that used a similar process to create faux shrunken heads, Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture, by Whiting Crafts.

Legends, folklore, and traditions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_%28symbolism%29

According to popular legend, upon witnessing an apple fall from its tree, Isaac Newton was inspired to conclude that a similar 'universal gravitation' attracted the moon toward the Earth. (This legend is

discussed in more detail in the article on Isaac Newton). In Arthurian legend, the mythical isle of Avalon's name is believed to mean 'isle of apples'.

In some places, apple bobbing is a traditional Halloween activity.[11]

In the 19th and early 20th century, and 21st century United States, Denmark and Sweden, a fresh, polished apple was a traditional children's gift for a teacher.

The Apple Wassail is a traditional form of wassailing practiced in cider orchards of South West England during the winter. The ceremony is said to 'bless' the apple trees to produce a good crop in

the forthcoming season.

New York City is often called "The Big Apple." The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians and horse racers of the 1920s who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or

city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.

"Comparing apples and oranges" means to examine the similarities of things that are completely different; in German the corresponding expression is "comparing apples with pears".

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is a popular saying, the apple obviously symbolizing health, but also the advantages of eating fresh fruit.