Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Crease
I think it's 'An acorn............. not an apple.'.................isn't it?
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*ahem*
An apple never falls far from the tree
It means, generally, that children take after their parents. The origin of the proverb is unknown but there are various versions in various languages.
Ralph Waldo Emerson used it in the U.S. in 1839.
The apple never falls far from the tree, which means that family characteristics will always assert themselves, is apparently of eastern origin.
~Oxford.com, "
Passionate about language"
AskOxford: Proverbs
The apple never falls far from the tree. - This proverb, referring to the central part of the distribution, is known in 42 languages in Europe. - The German and Hungarian equivalents are not as categoric as the English one, they simply state: "The apple does not fall far from the tree"
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German: Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm.
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Hungarian: Nem esik messze az alma a fájától.
In this case too, there is a
Hungarian variant, collected in the Bakonyalja region, referring to acorn instead of apple (there are large oak woods there), which
includes the exceptional case as well:
"The acorn does not fall far from the tree, if it falls, then it falls very far from it". (Nem esik messze a makk a fájától, ha esik, igen messze esik)
Proverbs and Reality
Proving the
seed never falls far from the tree, Dale Berra said: "You can't compare me to my father. Our similarities are different."