Hi, Ardith Hinton! -> Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 03.09.2023 00:04

 AK>> At first Bender decided to upset the Koreyko's balance and make
 AK>> him nervous. And he sent him some telegrams, like this:

 AK>> "LOAD ORANGES IN BARRELS"

 AK>> It sounds confusing and crazy in Russian, and I have thought for a
 AK>> long time it is crazy in English too.

 AH> Perhaps Bender meant this stuff to come across as a riddle, a
 AH> secret code, and/or the ravings of a madman in order to upset
 AH> Koreyko? :-)

Yes, probably. He even said to his accomplice to pretend to be a ragged, mad beggar and follow Koreyko asking him "Give me a million, give me a million!" ;)

 AK>> But all of a sudden I heard on American TV like this:
 AK>> "Bad apple spoils barrel".

 AK>> Aha, I thought, now I know where they load apples in barrels, not
 AK>> baskets, and probably they load oranges in the same way, too. So,
 AK>> Bender probably knew some English. ;-)

 AH> ... even if he did the expression may simply not translate well. I
 AH> first heard it as a teenager when it was clearly being used in a
 AH> metaphorical sense to refer to one of my fellow students. The way I
 AH> heard it was "one bad apple spoils the whole barrel [i.e. the whole
 AH> kit & kaboodle]".

 AH> Years ago hand-picked fruits & vegetables were loaded into baskets,
 AH> then transferred to wooden crates or barrels for shipping
 AH> elsewhere. Grocery stores often displayed their wares in such
 AH> containers... whereas nowadays you would be more likely to eee
 AH> cardboard cartons used for this purpose. But the principle is the
 AH> same: a rotten piece of fruit can easily infect others.: - Q

Although it is strange a bit when you put next "wooden crates/barrels". Crates have gaps between planks and fruits feel better in such condition. But if we put apples (or oranges) into a barrel... IMHO it is a bad idea. ;)

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2023

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