I have been in enough meetings during my career where one or more of the participants have been accused of comparing apples with oranges, the inference being that two concepts are so dissimilar that they are incapable of being compared with each other. It is now an accepted idiom in everyday speech. But is it an appropriate analogy?
Thank heavens there is someone in the scientific community who has taken up the challenge. Step forward Scott A Sandford of the NASA Ames Research Centre in California (natch).
He took an apple (a Granny Smith, I believe) and a Sunkist Orange and prepared the samples by desiccating them in a convection oven at a low temperature over a number of days. After mixing the dried samples with potassium bromide and grinding them for a couple of minutes in a small ball-bearinged mill, Sandford pressed the resultant powders into a circular pellet and then subjected them to spectroscopic analysis.
The results of the analysis? Apples and oranges are indeed similar, and it turns out to be (relatively) easy to compare them.
I’m not sure I would agree that Sandford’s elaborate preparation of the samples was easy. If I have a few spare days and a spare spectroscope, I might give it a go.
But the key finding is that there is no basis for the analogy. The next time anyone accuses you of comparing apples with oranges, you can say ‘Precisely, you have made my point’.
Of course, those of us who delight in the etymology of words and phrases will smile smugly in the knowledge that the phrase was originally somewhat different, as this exchange between Tranio and Biondello in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew shows:
Tranio: He is my father, sir; and, sooth to say, In countenance somewhat doth resemble you.
Biondello: [aside] As much as an apple doth an oyster, and all one.
I would like to see Sandford deconstruct that analogy!
I don’t know much about cats, but popular conceptions about them are that they have nine lives and always land on their feet, even when dropped upside down. I was pleased to discover that an intrepid member of the research community, braving the wrath and opprobrium of the animal welfare brigade, has set about to prove the second statement in a systematic way.
Fiorella Gambale from Milan took a cat, turned it upside down, and dropped it from various heights – one hundred times each from heights between six feet and one foot, descending by intervals of a foot a time.
The results were that in every case, over five hundred instances, the cat landed upright on its feet when dropped from heights of between six feet and two feet. However, when the moggy was dropped from a height of one foot, it never once landed on its feet.
No explanation for this baffling phenomenon is proffered by la Gambale, but I suspect that the distance travelled and the speed at which the cat drops are insufficient to allow it to perform the necessary acrobatics to right itself. Perhaps inadvertently, in carrying out the experiment, she also confirmed that a cat has (at least) nine lives!
Martin Fone is author of 'Fifty Curious Questions', from which this piece is an excerpt – find out more about his book or you can order a copy via Amazon.
Curious Questions: Why do the British drive on the left?
The rest of Europe drives on the right, so why do the British drive on the left? Martin Fone, author
Credit: alamy
Curious Questions: Why is a day divided into twenty-four hours?
We've been counting things in convenient chunks of ten for thousands of years, so why on earth is a day
Credit: Alamy
Curious Questions: Are bees really busy?
We've all used the phrase 'busy as a bee' – but is it justified? Or are bees just as liable
Credit: Alamy
Curious Questions: Why does freshly-mown grass smell so good?
Nothing says 'Spring is here' better than that wonderful aroma of newly-cut lawn. Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions',
Curious Questions: Do you get wetter running or walking in the rain?
Does running in the rain get you out of it quicker? Or do you just run into more water more
Credit: Alamy
Curious Questions: Do carrots really help you see in the dark?
We've all been given the familiar advice by parents anxious to get us eating our vegetables, but is there any
Credit: Photo by FLPA/Hugh Lansdown/REX/Shutterstock – Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata) adult, standing on leaf in rainforest, Tortuguero N.P., Limon Province, Costa Rica
Curious Questions: What is the world’s most painful insect sting – and where would it hurt the most?
Can you calibrate the intensity of different insect stings? Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions', investigates.
-
The need for mead: 'We can re-wild the countryside and get drunk while we’re doing it'The oldest alcoholic beverage in the world is in the midst of a renaissance.
-
Tom Parker Bowles's favourite recipe: French onion soupThis dish is no mere Gallic broth, rather pure bonhomie in a bowl — a boozy, beefy, allium-scented masterpiece that cries out for the chill depths of winter
-
Dawn Chorus: The Dorchester’s plans for British Pie Week, Anya Hindmarch takes flight and how to rent the Earl of Suffolk’s childhood homeEverything you need to know about Pie Week, Anya Hindmarch's new 1970s-inspired travel collection, the Earl of Suffolk's home and foraging in Somerset.
-
Celeriac-crusted cod with chorizo butter and romanesco sauceMake the most of seasonal celeriac whilst it's still around with this easy mid-week or weekend recipe.
-
Dawn Chorus: 2,400 pristine acres of The Highlands for sale, plus the ultimate boiled egg in a mere 32 minutes -
'I thought we were forgotten': The Ritz Restaurant has been awarded a second Michelin StarChef John Williams has won his long-awaited second Star, plus all the other Michelin winners (and losers) you need to know about.
-
Curious questions: Why do we use Seville oranges to make marmalade?Why do we use Seville oranges to make marmalade when there are more than 400 other varieties available worldwide? And do they really make the best preserve? Jane Wheatley investigates.
-
Mince pies really did once contain meat — and this Victorian recipe will convince you that they should to this dayOnce packed with meat, such as ox tongue and mutton, alongside dried and candied fruit and extravagant spices, the mince pie is not what it once was — and food historian Neil Buttery says that's made them worse.
