Once, back in college, I got invited to a Halloween party. While I hate parties, it was an excuse to hang out with the usual 4 guys and talk and check out…ahem…costumes.

I hate parties, but I hated dressing up even more – a Halloween costume nonetheless. However, I was a genius (self-proclaimed); so, I printed out L-I-F-E in large letters on a piece of paper, stuck them on my shirt, put a few lemons in my pocket and went to the party. And when anyone asked what I was supposed to be, I offered them a lemon!

Genius, right?

And suddenly, it dawned on me…everybody guessed it correctly right away! Now, I know that this quote is too popular but why? This led me to some searching with unexpected results.

Origin

While we cannot be entirely certain of the true origin, the first recorded coinage is just over 100 years old. The very first coinage of the phrase is credited to an anarchist English writer, Elbert Hubbard, in 1915. In his obituary to his disabled friend titled ‘The King’s Jester’, a line reads “He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade stand”.

This was about his disabled friend who did not let his shortcomings prevent him from having a good life, and when you think about it this way, it clicks right away! Lemons, usually, represent sourness – meaning difficult or adversity in life – while lemonade is symbolic of turning it into something more desirable. Making the best out of a bad situation.

The more common (in-use) version is given by Dale Carnegie in his book ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’ in 1948. Here, a line reads “If you have lemons, make lemonade”. And of course, we use it quite a few ways – “When life gives you lemons…” being one of them.

Other Variations

Presently, the expression has become so mainstream that this can be found almost everywhere – in Beyonce’s songs (album: Lemonade) to Eminem’s ‘Rap God’. And one can find many clever adaptations and variations of the phrase too, some of them, quite witty:

“When live gives you lemons, take it. Don’t waste food” – Giselle Marquez

“When live gives you lemons, throw them at people…hard” – Mitch Griego

“When live gives you lemons, chuck it right back” – Bill Waterson.

There are even fun memes and jokes about it:

More about Lemons

As I dived deeper into this world of Lemons, I came across something very interesting. Apparently, Lemons are not naturally occurring! (Some of you may know, but I did not, back then)

Lemons, belong to the citrus family, are hybrids between other citrus fruits. And the most common citruses that we consume today – lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruits (bel) are all hybrids – including less-common ones, Tangerines and Clementine.

Common naturally occurring citruses include Citron, Bitter Orange, Pomelo, Papeda, and Mandarin. And almost all other citruses are crosses between these. Lemons come from citron and bitter orange while oranges come from pomelo and mandarin. Grapefruits come from oranges and pomelo, and limes from various citruses.

Diving even deeper, I learnt about other non-citruses – all too common in our diets – are hybrids. Bananas that we eat today – one with grainy seeds – are edible but infertile, so, they are to be grown artificially. Such is the case with strawberries as well. In the wild, these two fruits, with their large seeds and forms, look so ghastly that you’d never even think of eating them!

And yes, like you, I was wondering how are we seeing these artificial plants / fruits growing naturally…after all, I too had a banana (tree?) in my home. But what we need to know is that these hybrid fruits have been around for thousands of years, and by now, have evolved enough to grow freely and naturally (except Bananas).

Same was the case with lemons – they have been around for some millennia and grow independently at present. It was only after a genomic study that this truth about lemons were revealed.

Conclusion

Where am I going with this? Well, my little “research” concluded just about there. And it left me with two things:

First – an increase in this weird knowledge which is too weird for a conversation-starter and I might never use it

Second – a realization that this whole classic quote looked upon in times of adversity by everybody is based on a misconception.
See, this adage, ‘When life gives you lemons’ is now, for all intents and purposes, outdated. Because of this saying, we blame life for the bad things that happen to us – our ‘fate’. But the truth is Life never gave us lemons – we made them ourselves.

Likewise, we make up most of our problems and cry over them but if we can give ourselves these problems, why can’t we make more than just lemonade? How about we grab some tequila and salt and take shots instead?
Bottoms up!