The idiom “bad apple” refers to a person or thing that negatively affects those around them. It comes from the idea that a rotten apple can spoil the rest in a barrel. The phrase is still relevant today and can refer to individuals in a large organization or a person’s negative attitude affecting those around them.
A “bad apple” is someone or something that ruins everything around them. This particular phrase is part of a longer saying that states that “A bad apple ruins the barrel.” Idioms like “rotten apple” can convey more than just the meaning of individual words. The word idiom comes from the ideas behind two Greek words: idios, which means personal or private, and idiousthai, which means to create one’s own. In the modern vernacular, this idiom refers to a single thing or person that can have a negative effect on all things or people around it.
In literal terms, the phrase “bad apple” simply means that one rotten or rotten apple can negatively affect all the other apples in the same barrel. Rotting fruit produces various gases, such as ethylene oxide, amylase and protease. Plant tissues also emit hormones, which can signal faster maturation and, therefore, faster decomposition. Some apple growers actually pick the fruit before it’s ripe and expose it to ethylene gas right before sending it to market.
This particular idiom is thought to derive from an old proverb, popular when societies were more agrarian. Similar popular sayings of the past state that “A good apple tree has the most sticks under it” and “A fish rots from the head down.” Sayings like these have fallen out of use because people don’t have to inspect the fish they’ve caught or the apples they’ve picked before eating them. Rotten fish and apples don’t usually make it to the supermarket. The “rotten apple” has remained because it has a meaning applicable to modern life.
Today, “bad apple” can refer to one or a few members of a large organization whose behavior or antics affect an entire group in a negative way. Some loan officers may have been responsible for creating a large mortgage crisis, some bad cops may ruin the reputation and integrity of an entire police force, or one person’s attitude may have a negative effect on the other people around them. So a “bad apple” is someone or something that causes people or things in the immediate area to be negatively affected.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
