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English Idiom: (Go) suck a lemon
In the English language, there are rude words that people can use when they get angry.
Go suck a lemon is a family-friendly way to tell someone to go away if you are mad at them.
Naturally, you could always use the infamous F**k o**.
Here at ArtisanEnglish.jp, I try to be much more family-friendly.
Like other expressions in English, such as learn the ropes, this idiom originates in the sailing of tall ships.
A long time ago, the British Navy ruled the oceans.
Ships and sailors would spend months or perhaps even years at sea.
Food preservation techniques were fundamental then, which caused the diet to be relatively poor.
As a result, many sailors suffered from scurvy, which is a lack of vitamin C.
Eventually, the British discovered that fruit contained vitamin C and that eating fruit at sea would help sailors remain healthy.
Unfortunately, without refrigeration, citrus fruits spoil quickly, except for lemons.
The British navy would purchase lemons from Italy.
Once in a while, sailors had to suck a lemon to get vitamin C.
As you can imagine, sucking a lemon is not a pleasant experience.
Nowadays, if you’re angry with someone and want them to go away and have an unpleasant experience, you can tell them to suck a lemon.
There’s another part to this story, though.
The Italian mafia grew out of this lemon trade with the British.
I won’t get into it here, but indirectly, the British Navy created the mafia as we know it today.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 65.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.