How do you like them apples?
Did this movie popularize that term? Or was it a well known phrase beforehand?
shareThat's the question I came to this page seeking to find out!
It got a roaring wave of appreciative laughter in my film class today.
Actually I just found a pretty plausible answer, on UrbanDictionary.com:
"In World War I, something called a Stokes gun fired mortars resembling apples with a stick in them, so they were often referred to as Toffee Apples.
In the movie Rio Bravo in 1959, a guy tosses a hand grenade and says'How do ya like them apples?'"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=them+apples
"In the movie Rio Bravo in 1959, a guy tosses a hand grenade"
What? Yeah, there were a lot of hand grenades in the old west.
The phrase has nothing to do with WWI.
Nudnick is absolutely right about the origin.
The phrase did originate during WWI, and wouldn't have existed in the Old West. (Hence, a goof on the filmmaker's part)
To back up the point:
http://askville.amazon.com/phrase-apples-originate/AnswerViewer.do?req uestId=372841
It was a stick of dynamite that John Wayne tosses.
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