Why the heck do we measure things in terms of fruit?
My research on fibroids — starting with the info packet from the doctor — said that they can get as large as a grapefruit. Talking to friends revealed that many of them have experienced the fruit scale when talking about fibroids and other growths. After my ultrasound results came in, the doctor described one of my growths as a “long grapefruit” (to which a friend said I’d achieved a whole new level on the fruit scale).
A quick web search found a really cute list that ran through a baby’s size from shortly after conception (poppy seed) to right before giving birth (watermelon). In comments, some folks started debating which fruits are bigger than which, lobbying for some items to be switched around on the master list.
And it’s not limited to medical stuff. You might have seen the commercial for KGB — a text information service — where the guy is trying to figure out his girlfriend’s bra size. The experts suggest comparing them to fruits: “Is she an apple, an orange, or a melon?”
At the heart of it? I think the fruit scale works because fruit are relatable. You know the general size (and shape) of lots of common fruits. If somebody said you had a growth the size of a banana or a lemon, you’d have a good idea of what they mean.
But when you start getting into less familiar fruits, you can run into problems. Would you know the approximate size of a kumquat? (I would, but only because they were a challenge ingredient on a cooking show I watched last night!)
And then there’s variation in size within each fruit — even familiar ones. What exactly is the average size of an apple? In my head, it’s about the size of my fist… but then your fist and my fist may be different sizes. And I’ve seen apples that were much bigger and much smaller.
Still, I think the benefits of relatability outweigh the possible nitpicky problems with using the fruit scale — at least to get a general idea for size. And while there is something weird about the thought of a long grapefruit residing inside me, it at least gives me something more specific to imagine than a set of dimensions.
What fruit have shown up in your medical experiences? I’m curious to see what’s most popular in the fruit measurement garden.