# Apples and Teachers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777 "2005-12-30T22:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/1 "2005-12-30T22:08:19Z")
Does anyone have a good source for a history of why people give apples to teachers? My aunt is a teacher and we give her apple-themed gifts every year. I’d like a nice explanation I can print out when I send her her gift this year. (I’m late, I need to make it up! :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/2 "2005-12-30T22:26:44Z")
At one point in the past, before modern farming techniques, I’m told that apples tasted good. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/3 "2005-12-30T22:31:02Z")
Way back when, apples were plentiful, likely grown on the property of the parents, sweet, and an free, easy present for someone who didn’t have a tree of their own, and likely rented a room and took meals with the landlady. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/4 "2005-12-30T22:43:35Z")
Aren’t apples the “fruit of knowledge”? Or is the symbolism purely Biblical? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/5 "2005-12-31T00:00:22Z")
A couple previous threads, though they didn’t produce a definitive answer: [What is the origin of apples being associated with teachers?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=110268) [Why do kids give their teachers apples?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=141957) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/6 "2005-12-31T00:20:13Z")
Because we traditionally say A is for Apple when learning our letters in school. I guess we could also give teachers balls (B) or a cat ©. Actually I have no clue . . . but it sounded good. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/7 "2005-12-31T02:19:14Z")
I would also like to point out that an apple is just the sort of thing that can easily be carried in a coat pocket and brought out for the teacher after everyone else has left the room, if discretion is desired. Also, apples are relatively cheap compared to say, T-Bone steaks (which don’t fit in coat pockets very well, but would probably make more desirable gifts). ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/8 "2005-12-31T06:50:01Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > Aren’t apples the “fruit of knowledge”? Or is the symbolism purely Biblical? It’s not Biblical. Apples don’t even grow in the area where the Hebrew scriptures were first written. At any rate, the word used is “fruit”; the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is often depicted as an apple in Western sources, but the Bible didn’t represent the fruit as an apple at all. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/9 "2005-12-31T07:09:43Z")
It was a Latin pun. _Malum_ = both ‘evil’ and ‘apple’. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Plinth\_percher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc348/32.png) [@Plinth\_percher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plinth_percher)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apples-and-teachers/337777/10 "2005-12-31T07:24:43Z")
Apples or zuccini - your call.😃