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For those unfamiliar with the expression, this idiom can be used to gloat (as Matt Damon's character did in "Good Will Hunting") or to call attention to a small personal triumph. It's sort of another way of saying "So there" (but with apples).
OK, but how did the expression get its start? According to a few sources, it originated in World War I with the "toffee apple," a kind of trench mortar bomb sometimes used to destroy tanks. We presume soldiers would say, "How you like them apples?" after an "apple" took out an enemy.
A character played by Walter Brennan used the phrase in the John Wayne movie "Rio Bravo." After throwing a stick of dynamite and seeing his partner shoot it in the air, Brennan shouted, "How do ya like them apples?"
Ironically, whether in the movies or on the battlefield, the person being asked usually isn't around to answer the question.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20061212.html
I dont know where it came from, but Its used as an insult.
Like for example in the movie "Good Will Hunting"
Matt Damon approaches the Harvard student and says
"Do you like apples"
"yeah"
(Matt Damon shows him a phone number written on a napkin)
"I got her number, how do ya like dem apples ??"
hahaha, its probably what god yelled to adam in the garden of Eden, right when adam found out he had condemned mankid to eternal sin.
The movie Good Will Hunting. Clarke said it when he got that one girl's number.
The phrase got popular in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.
The phrase also occurs in the 1959 Western film Rio Bravo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_do_you_like_them_apples
The Phrase "How do like them apples" was coined during the great depression. The apple farmers of the era had such a hard time maintaining a healthy crop, that the normal buyers ceased their patronage. The farmers were unable to obtain enough water to keep the crops healthy. Thus resulting in many families who were unable to pay bills and had to search for employment.
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