Most recently one of the university president said that when she was in America to do something, she pronounced orange like〔 ræn 〕and then they didn't understand her pronunciation, and after that, she pronounced it like 〔 rin 〕and then they did listen to her sound. Since she said 〔 rin 〕, not 〔 ræn 〕, the word ‘orange’ is known to have a very difficult word for a complicated pronunciation.

When western people say fruits as tropes, the meanings of fruits are different. Peaches and apples have a good meaning, but oranges and lemons have a poor meaning.

As an example, one of Korean sayings ‘Hobagae Chulgudnundago Subagdoinunya’ is the same meaning as Western sayings ‘You can't make an apple an orange just by calling it an orange’

It is a good sentence even though we delete by-phrase ‘by calling it an orange’.  Korean eats a yellow old pumpkin, but westerners used to use it as a jack-o'-lantern in Oct.31 of Halloween. We can guess the meaning that we can not compare a watermelon with any squash or sweet pumpkin is the same as the following Korean saying ‘Hobagae Chulgudnundag Subagdoinunya’.

What is the cultural background of an apple and an orange that westerners said? First of all, apples are the best fruit for westerners. They nicknamed New York City Big Apple because NYC has good sightseeings and attractions.
There is an American proverb ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’. The apple that is liked 〔loved〕has a lot of scientific grounds. An apple contains Vitamin C and flavonoid to prevent a heart disease, procititis, prostatitis and mammitics. And also it reduces bad cholesterol and raised good cholesterol.

But apples of every kind and taste like blue apples and red apples taste good and look good. I think that she, one of the university president, compared these apples with those oranges plays droll tricks.

The following two American sayings have an messages that you must compare what you can compare: ＂You can't compare an apple to an orange or you're trying to make an apple an orange＂

prof. Yoon, Seak-Hwa(English Dept.)