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> a sense still encountered more rarely in English. I don't know what you mean by that. People do talk about "the fruits of" their labors.
by moron4hire 9mo ago
> a sense still encountered more rarely in English.
I don't know what you mean by that. People do talk about "the fruits of" their labors.
- adrian_b 9mo agoThat it what I mean. This old sense is encountered, like in your example, but much more often "fruits" is used in the culinary sense. Many people perceive your example as a metaphor, the results of the labor being compared with the fruits of a tree, but in reality the direction of the metaphor has historically been opposite, the fruits of the tree being called thus because they were considered the useful results of its cultivation.