[rfc] history of 'cherrypicking' term

[Robey Pointer]

On 27 Jun 2006, at 12:28, Jan Hudec wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 27, 2006 at 14:21:03 -0500, John Arbash Meinel wrote:
>>> I think it really refers to picking (and eating only) the cherry  
>>> from the top
>>> of a cake and leaving the rest as a metaphor for only taking the  
>>> best part
>>> and discarding the rest. I think at least in Czech one can also  
>>> speak about
>>> picking raisins in the same sense.
>>>
>>
>> I hadn't ever heard of it, though it makes sense.
>
> At least around here it's quite common to say something is a  
> 'cherry on
> a cake' to mean it's a small nice bonus or the last bit to make  
> something
> really perfect.

I'd never heard of that either.  In (American?) english, a  
"cherrypicker" is a really tall ladder, even when it's not used for  
literally picking cherries, so the whole concept of "cherrypicking"  
revisions had always caused confusing images in my head.  Now I get  
it. :)

robey