04 Dec 23
Every time the lives of offspring closely mirror the lives of their parents, one can point to it and say: "The acorn doesn't fall very far from the tree" and simply ignore the considerable but unknown number of counterexamples.
What other aphorisms can seem anecdotally plausible despite lacking more convincing evidence?
04 Dec 23
@fmf saidIn Germany it is "Apple" and that is much mor rue. Acorn seed can travel considerable distances.
Every time the lives of offspring closely mirror the lives of their parents, one can point to it and say: "The acorn doesn't fall very far from the tree" and simply ignore the considerable but unknown number of counterexamples.
What other aphorisms can seem anecdotally plausible despite lacking more convincing evidence?
Since "apple" is also a euphemism for what horses and donkeys excrete there is another which claims, that those apples won't fall far from that animal...
04 Dec 23
@ponderable saidIn Germany it is "Apple" and that is much mor rue.
In Germany it is "Apple" and that is much mor rue. Acorn seed can travel considerable distances.
Since "apple" is also a euphemism for what horses and donkeys excrete there is another which claims, that those apples won't fall far from that animal...
It can be "apple" in English too. But when British people say "The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree", they aren't implicitly referencing horse dung, even if that is the kind of thing the context suggests.
e.g. "Donald Trump Jr is such a jerk; it just goes to show that the apple [or acorn] doesn't fall very far from the tree".
That could be construed to mean they are both dunglike, but the apple in the adage does not symbolize apple-sized nodules of horse excrement.
04 Dec 23
@the-gravedigger said“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”
“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”
Perhaps not if you have to have your car serviced or an appendix removed.
True, though, if I want so-and-so to get three red thumbs.
04 Dec 23
@the-gravedigger saidif "well" means in the precise way you envisioned it: yes.
“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”
Perhaps not if you have to have your car serviced or an appendix removed.
But one can't built big things alone.
