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first person to try tomato

English translation: First person with the courage to try something new

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:first person to try tomato
Selected answer:First person with the courage to try something new
Entered by: Denyce Seow

01:46 Mar 18, 2007
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
English term or phrase: first person to try tomato
Has anyone heard of this idiom? Can someone please explain?

They hope to use their influence in doing some promotion work for figure skating events and become "the first person to try tomato."
Denyce Seow
Singapore
Local time: 08:33
First person with the courage to try something new
Explanation:
A tomato is very different from other fruits and vegetables; the first person to try (taste) one had no way of knowing whether it would taste good, be poisonous, etc. I'm not sure what that has to do with figure skating, but I assume the people in question are trying to promote the sport in a new and different way.
Selected response from:

JaneTranslates
Puerto Rico
Local time: 20:33
Grading comment
Thanks, everyone. I did not want to use this idiom because it is only found on Chinese websites. Since most of you here understand it, I think I am just going to use it.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +16First person with the courage to try something new
JaneTranslates
2 -2Doing promotion work in figure skating for the company (Tomato)
Anna Maria Augustine (X)


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


31 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +16
First person with the courage to try something new


Explanation:
A tomato is very different from other fruits and vegetables; the first person to try (taste) one had no way of knowing whether it would taste good, be poisonous, etc. I'm not sure what that has to do with figure skating, but I assume the people in question are trying to promote the sport in a new and different way.

JaneTranslates
Puerto Rico
Local time: 20:33
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks, everyone. I did not want to use this idiom because it is only found on Chinese websites. Since most of you here understand it, I think I am just going to use it.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Margaret Schroeder: Tomatoes were long thought to be poisonous by European immigrants to the Americas. http://tinyurl.com/33gtkh
2 hrs
  -> Exactly. Thanks, GoodWords!
agree  Richard Benham
3 hrs
  -> Thank you, Richard.
agree  Jack Doughty
5 hrs
  -> Thank you, Jack.
agree  Suzan Hamer: I've never heard the expression used before, but yes, this is what it means. One would have had to be incredibly brave (or foolish?) to be the first to see if tomatoes were poisonous.
5 hrs
  -> And what about shrimp? Thank you, brave person in the dim past! And thank you, Suzan.
agree  Edith Kelly
6 hrs
  -> Thanks, EdithK.
agree  Mehmet Hascan
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, Mehmet.
agree  Robert Fox
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, Robert.
agree  P.L.F. Persio
9 hrs
  -> Thanks, "sofiablu." Haven't seen you in ages! My girls all loved the wooden tulips...
agree  cmwilliams (X): the only web references for this expression are on English versions of Chinese web sites.
9 hrs
  -> Not surprising. I don't think I've ever heard the expression in quite that form, hence my confidence level of 4 instead of 5. Thank you, cmwilliams.
agree  Will Matter: People (mainly those of European descent) used to (mistakenly) think that tomatoes were poisonous, that's why they were originally called "love apples". Because they were thought to be poisonous the first person to actually eat one was pretty brave.
13 hrs
  -> Thank you, willmatter! I can't stand them raw--such an acid taste. It doesn't surprise me that people had their doubts. Now, in a stew, or a sauce, or all day in a crockpot with tough beef...
agree  Sophia Finos (X)
17 hrs
  -> Thank you, Sophia.
agree  Seema Ugrankar
21 hrs
  -> Thank you, Seema.
agree  Deborah Workman: This seems to be the gist. but since the tomato ref appears only on a few Chinese sites and isn't known to native Eng speakers, my guess is the idiom isn't English but that this "English" came from another source. (Could this be a back translation?)
23 hrs
  -> Maybe so--it certainly doesn't sound natural to me, though it was easy enough to understand. Thank you, Deborah.
agree  Alexandra Tussing
1 day 2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Rusinterp.
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
1 day 2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Marju.
agree  ErichEko ⟹⭐
3 days 5 hrs
  -> Thank you, Erich.
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): -2
Doing promotion work in figure skating for the company (Tomato)


Explanation:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Tomato Design

Anna Maria Augustine (X)
France
Local time: 02:33
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Richard Benham: Huh? It says "try tomato".
3 hrs
  -> Are you trying to get points for disagreeing?
disagree  Will Matter: Not this time, for fairly obvious reasons.
13 hrs
  -> Oh! But why can't I have points for trying? Or a Nobel.
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