Lemon is a much maligned fruit in the English language. When someone is described as being a lemon, it means he has nothing between the ears, isn’t genuine, or is a fake, of low, inferior quality.
Aside from its botanical definition, Merriam-Webster dictionary defines lemon as one that is unsatisfactory or defective. Remember how a famous automobile brand sometime ago recalled its fleet of cars under a certain model after it had been declared as defective? The model was branded, of all things, a lemon!
Lemon’s synonyms in the same dictionary count on the most unflattering of word associations. They include bomb, bummer, bust, catastrophe, clinker, debacle, disaster, dud, fiasco, fizzle, flop, frost, failure, loser, miss, shipwreck, turkey, and washout.
On the other hand, its antonyms are blockbuster, hit, smash, success, winner.
It didn’t help that back in the 1960s, a worldwide hit song originated in the United States by guitar-strumming hitmaker Trini Lopez demonized and demonetized the lemon. Those of you old enough to remember must know by heart the following lyrics to the bouncy song, “Lemon Tree.” It used to be a favorite song during school programs that required boys and girls to swing and dance to the beat of one of the biggest song hits of the period.
The song goes:
‘When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me, “Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree.” “Don’t put your faith in love, my boy,” my father said to me, “I fear you’ll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree. Lemon tree’s very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of that poor lemon, is impossible to eat.’
Woe to the composer of such a song. The same goes to the English language practitioner who coined the expression that has debased the lemon, and the dictionary entrant who has humiliated the many-seeded, pale yellow oblong berry. The lemon has bounced back with vengeance in social media and in the kitchens of the world as a favored fruit and now, also as a medicinal drink.
An e-mail circulating around the net proclaims the health values of lemon. Mike Geary, nutrition specialist and personal trainer, contributing to The AlternativeDaily.com, says drinking warm lemon water soaked in lemon offers a number of health benefits. Lemon, he says, contains citric acid, magnesium, bioflavonoids, vitamin C, pectin, calcium and limonene, which boosts immunity that helps the body fight infection.
Geary says it is best to start your day with warm lemon water to help cleanse, revitalize the body. He advises: Use only purified, lukewarm water, neither super hot nor icy cold. Squeeze half a lemon into each glass without having to eat anything first.
The American Cancer Society is also cited for recommending warm lemon water to encourage regular bowel movements.
According to the article, lemon improves digestion. Drinking lemon juice first thing in the morning every day helps flush toxins and other unwanted materials left in the digestive process.
Lemon balances pH. Although lemons are acidic per se, they are a good source of alkaline. The AlternativeDaily.com says: ‘Most people are too acidic (from eating too much sugar and grains), and drinking warm lemon water helps reduce overall acidity, drawing uric acid from the joints. This reduces the pain and inflammation which many people feel.’
Lemon boosts energy and improves mood. The reading says just the scent of lemons alone can improve your mood and elevate energy levels.
The natural benefits one can derive from lemon aren’t new.
For centuries, scientists have sworn by the fact that lemons contain powerful antibacterial, antiviral and immune-boosting components. They are also a great digestive aid and liver cleanser.
Calamansi is known as the Philippine lemon. Much smaller in size than the foreign variety, it has the distinction of being the most prolific source of Vitamin C. In place of lemon, calamansi is also considered a good substitute in preparing the aforementioned health drink.
In street lingo, calamansi is associated not with being a failure or a loser (like the lemon), but with more positive thoughts, like sex appeal. Thus, we have the expression, ‘May asim pa’ (Still juicy sour).
When a man or a woman in his mid-life years is told this, he is supposed to be flattered and not insulted for not being called sweet instead. He will want to offer friends another round of drinks. It means he’s still got it, despite the passing of years. It’s certainly more fun to be called may asim (as in calamansi) than being branded a lemon.
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