• thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    we still have a couple of lemon giving phrases that survive “when life gives you lemons”. “looks like that car you bought is a lemon”

    lemons are sour instead of sweet like most fruit. my guess is that a lemon is a thing to generally make your day/life worse, especially if it seemed like a good thing at first.

    makes sense in the context of a “confirmed bachelor”. he’s giving that lemon to a stork. he’s not going to have children. someone married him and he’s not going to have children. back in the day that would be seen as defeating the point of marriage, though the real implication is he’s gay and married for a beard.

    in the context of other relationships or a breakup they thought they were dating someone for keeps, turns out they weren’t worth it. they were a lemon, looked sweet but tasted sour when bitten into.