Healthy language

How many fruit idioms do you know? Here are 10 of them!

You may not have a healthy diet, and fruit may not be part of your everyday intake, and that’s all right. We’re not here to judge! But we are here to tell you there’s an alternative way to enjoy fruit every day. Want to know what it is? It’s language. There are plenty of idioms that include fruit, and we’ve gathered a bunch of them for you to revisit here. Ready? Go bananas with this article!

Do you have a special someone? Maybe a person who brightens your day by simply looking at them. Well, that’s the apple of your eye. This expression means someone is very special to or cherished by you. The redness of the apple, ever connected to love and emotional connection, explains why this fruit was the chosen one for this idiom, right?

If you paid close attention to the intro here, we wish you had gone bananas on this article. And if you are a daily reader of our blog, you’ll know the kind of excitement this idiom refers to. You know when you get that email saying your article of the day is ready for you to tackle? Well, that’s the feeling! Excitement? That’s too plain. "Go bananas" describes it better!

As much as one tries to deny it, we’ve all been in a situation where jealousy takes over, right? Imagine being a sports person and losing a match, you could say, "Well, they won, but that’s just because they got lucky!" Is that real or sour grapes? In other words, are you being realistic or simply jealous? That’s what the sour grapes refer to.

You had a great week at your job, everything went right on track, and the cherry on top is that you got a trip plan for the weekend. The cherry, red and delicious as it looks and tastes, is the representation of the final touch that makes something great or even greater.

You’re on that trip that is the cherry on top of your exhausting week, and you went to a beautiful retreat. Can you imagine how you would feel? Is the expression "as cool as a cucumber" appropriate? It probably is, since this idiom refers to feeling calm and very relaxed. Why? Well, because the cucumber is quite a fresh fruit. Who hasn't used it to reduce the puffiness in the eyes?

In every group of any kind, there’s always that person who is always causing trouble, raising problems where there were none. Conflict follows them, and they spread it around. Maybe it’s not their intention, but it happens, and that’s what we call a bad apple. Those trouble-makers we love and hate at the same time. Do you know any?

Here is an example of this one, see if you can guess what it means: "Their plant to sneak out in the middle of the night went pear-shaped when the mother saw them." Imagine the embarrassment! But this expression is not about that exactly, but a way of saying things did not go as planned or that they went wrong. Did anything go pear-shaped for you today?

There are jobs… And jobs! Who wouldn’t like to be a librarian, arranging books in a quiet space surrounded by bookworms alike? Well, that may not be the case for you, but it sure is a plum job, which is an alternative way of saying that it’s a dream job or at least an easy and desirable one.

We mentioned the troublemaker earlier, but as soon as we can identify the one that takes on that role in every group, we can also point to the one who is a natural leader. Every single group has a top banana! Wait, what? Exactly, the top banana is that natural boss that stands out from the rest, thanks to their dominant personality.

There are many more, but let’s close this article with an easy, light-hearted one. What did you think of it? Hope you thought it was peachy keen, or, in other words, a great one! And let’s hope that these expressions help you get your daily fruit intake. See you in the next article!

Night sky calendar

A moon for every mood: The many faces of our lunar friend

Image: Anderson Rian

The moon isn’t just a pretty light in the night sky. Depending on when it appears, it has different names based on history, farming, and folklore. You probably know about the blue moon, but did you know there’s a "strawberry moon" and even a "wolf moon"? Let’s explore where these names come from and the stories behind them.

Image: David Dibert

January’s full moon is known as the Wolf Moon, and if that sounds like something straight out of a spooky winter night, you’re not far off. The name comes from old European and Native American traditions, where people noticed that wolves tended to howl more during the cold, food-scarce months. While we now know that wolves don’t actually howl at the moon (stop it, Hollywood), the name stuck.

Image: Kym MacKinnon

We know you’ve shoveled a driveway in February, so you understand why this full moon is called the Snow Moon. This chilly month often brings heavy snowfall across North America, earning the moon its frosty name.

Native American tribes and early settlers also called it the Storm Moon or the Hunger Moon, as food was often scarce in the dead of winter. The good news is that even though we don’t face the same hardships today, the Snow Moon signals that winter is coming to an end!

Image: Alexandra Vo

You’ve probably heard the phrase "once in a blue moon," meaning something that happens rarely. Well, a Blue Moon isn’t actually blue (sorry to disappoint), but it is quite unusual.

The term dates back to the 16th century and has evolved over time, though its idiomatic meaning became widely popular in the 1940s. As for the event itself, it occurs when a single month has two full moons—something that happens only every two to three years.

Image: uomo libero

This full moon occurs in June, and even though it’s called the Strawberry Moon, don’t expect it to turn pink or red.

This moon gets its name from the Algonquin tribes, who saw it as a signal to harvest ripening strawberries. In Europe, it’s sometimes called the Rose Moon or the Honey Moon—just like the one you take when you get married! Either way, this moon marks the start of summer, long days, and warm nights. If you ask us, that’s a true honeymoon!

Image: Clay Banks

In the past, farmers didn’t have tractor headlights, as you can imagine, so they relied on the Harvest Moon to work late into the night.

This full moon is the one closest to the September equinox, rising shortly after sunset for several nights in a row. This provided extra light for those gathering their summer crops. The name has been around for centuries and is still used today to mark the start of autumn.

Image: The frolicsome Fairy

Following the Harvest Moon comes the Hunter’s Moon, the first full moon after the fall equinox.

This was the time when hunters took advantage of the bright night skies to track game and stock up on meat for winter. Like the Harvest Moon, it rises early and stays bright, making nighttime hunting easier. With both harvesting and hunting, the moon proved to be quite useful, huh?

Image: zhang kaiyv

The Beaver Moon in November marks a time when beavers get serious about winter preparations (you didn’t think people were the only ones getting ready, did you?). Around this time, they begin building lodges and stocking food before the ponds freeze over.

Some say early settlers and Native American tribes named it this because it was also the best time to set beaver traps for warm fur. Nowadays? Well, that full moon in November is your cue to stock up on blankets for the couch!

Image: Luca

If winter ever feels like it lasts forever, you can blame it on the Long Night Moon. This full moon, the one closest to the winter solstice, appears when the nights are longest and the sun is at its weakest.

In Europe, it’s also called the Moon Before Yule, tying it to old winter solstice celebrations. Since this moon sits higher in the sky and lingers longer, it truly lives up to its name—even if we don’t like it one bit!

Image: Alexis Antonio

A Blood Moon isn’t just a cool name (we say cool—you might say creepy); it’s a real celestial event! Luckily, it has no direct relation to blood—just the color.

This happens during a total lunar eclipse when the Earth blocks direct sunlight from reaching the moon. Instead, the only light that reaches the moon is filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, giving it a reddish glow. The more dust or pollution in the air, the redder it looks. Pretty fascinating, don’t you think?

Image: Jonathan Wheeler

Ever notice that some full moons seem bigger and brighter than others? That’s a Supermoon! Yes, that is indeed a thing, and it happens when the full moon coincides with its closest point to Earth in its orbit, making it look a bit larger and a lot brighter.

The term was first used by astrologers in the 1970s but has since become a popular way to describe these extra-dazzling moons.