Why are crappy cars called lemons

Show 5 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Callithumpian Callithumpian Add a comment. The armipotent Mars, of lances the mighty, Gave Hector a gift, - Dum. A gift nutmeg Biron. A lemon Long. Stuck with cloves. No cloven. John Mack John Mack 1 1 gold badge 8 8 silver badges 24 24 bronze badges. Barrie England Barrie England k 10 10 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Interesting transition - from the person who's dumb enough to take the substandard item to the item itself.

After she told him, he looked like he was sucking on a lemon. John Lawler John Lawler Especially in an ancient context, where they did not enjoy the access that we have to a large variety of fruits from various regions: If I only occasionally had access to a fruit, then a lemon would be my least favorite by far. Lighter, The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang , volume 2 , gives a first occurrence date of for lemon in the relevant sense: lemon n.

This jokey item appears in the Minneapolis Journal November 25, : Henry James, the novelist, says the expression " handing a lemon " conveys no meaning. From The Commoner February 1, : The Boston Herald quotes a fruit dealer as saying that the popular slang expression " handed him a lemon ," is hurting the lemon trade. Conclusion The search results in Google Books and in the Library of Congress's newspaper database tend to confirm the view of J.

Sven Yargs Sven Yargs k 30 30 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. If there's a boxing origin as seems likely from the above, was it the custom at the end of a round to hand some refreshing drink or fruit to the boxer?

In which case a raw lemon might be quite an unpleasant surprise. I'm wondering if it actually happened in a famous match. Nawiliwili Nawiliwili 11 1 1 bronze badge.

Hi Daniel! This is an interesting possibility; unfortunately, what we look for here as in all SE sites are answers that can be backed up by verifiable references. Do you have access to any references that offer this as a possibility? If not, your answer is in grave danger of being voted down as "not helpful". We don't want this to happen to you! Go forth and find references!

And if you can't, that's fine. Delete your answer and give us another answer that you can find references for. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. If it makes a clanking noise while turning left or right, there could be link damage or a worn-out gear.

Taking a deeper look, however, might reveal chipped paint, mismatched body panels and interior flaws, including a crack in the dashboard and missing buttons. Worn-out suspension — A damaged suspension shows in various ways; common signs are hard rebounds after pushing on the fender, and heavy bouncing while moving at a normal or even slow speed.

Billowing white smoke could be an indirect sign of a blown gasket or a damaged cylinder head, while blue smoke indicates burning oil. All of these issues are expensive to fix.

Engine revs with light acceleration — The sound of an engine revving can be quite pleasing to the ear. But if a light tap of the gas revs the engine too much, then that could be a sign of trouble. Spotting a Lemon Although there could be a number of lemons sitting in car lots near you, there are still ways to identify the signs of a lemon with a bit of work.

Mechanical inspection — For an added sense of security, a reputable seller will physically test their cars to get a feel for how it drives, taking note of any peculiar sounds or motions. At this time the phrase "the answer's a lemon " commonly referred to an outcome that was unsatisfactory. Subsequently, question is, what does it mean to be called a lemon?

The reason " lemon " has a negative connotation could possibly be because: "worthless thing," , Amer. In US English, a lemon is a vehicle often new that turns out to have several manufacturing defects affecting its safety, value or utility. Any vehicle with such severe issues may be termed a lemon and, by extension, so may any product with flaws too great or severe to serve its purpose. Why are bad cars called lemons? Another possibility is that the term originated from British pool hall slang, where a ' lemon game' was a game played by a hustler.

A car is considered a lemon if it has a substantial defect that the automaker can't fix within a reasonable amount of time. The lemons problem refers to issues that arise regarding the value of an investment or product due to asymmetric information possessed by the buyer and the seller.

Explicit sex stories in general, especially in anime fan fiction, are known as lemon , a term which comes from a Japanese slang term meaning "sexy" that itself derives from an early pornographic cartoon series called Cream Lemon.

The term lime denotes a story that has sexual themes but is not necessarily explicit. There are many terms you might use for a decrepit car 1. Numerous slang terms are used to describe such cars , which vary by country and region, including hoopty, jalopy, shed, clunker, lemon, banger, bomb, beater, rust bucket, voodoo, wreck, or rattletrap.

Lemon in my hands - A lemon is any unexpectedly defective or undesirable thing or person, usually said of bad choices, as in "We picked a lemon when we chose that guy," or of unsalable cars in the motor trade , or new-bought cars that develop mysterious serial problems. Prior to passage of this act, consumers had very little protection when they experienced repeated problems or defects with their newly purchased vehicle.

The law in most states, including California, also covers leased vehicles and some protections for used vehicles still under warranty. In such instances, the manufacturer must either replace or repurchase the vehicle—whichever you prefer. The California Lemon Law can protect your rights as an automobile owner. But navigating the process can be tricky to the untrained claim applicant.