I planted a dwarf cherry tree a few years ago, and it is finally bearing fruit. I know this because the deer jumped our fence to pick the bottom half of the tree clean. The deer couldn’t be bothered before, but now I have to fight for my right to have fruit. Like most things swirling around my brain, this incident takes me on a word journey. Thanks for walking the path with me.

First off, please don’t judge me. I never connected the “cherry picker” bucket loader machine with a cherry-picking job. I’ve only gone cherry-picking once as a disgruntled teen, and the pruned trees didn’t require me to climb ladders or enter a mechanical lift. But it would take someone having to pick cherries to understand the need for such a device.

In 1944, Californian Jay Eitel invented the original “cherry picker” machine while spending a summer picking cherries by hand from a ladder. According to Eitel’s obituary, his “cherry picker” was born out of his frustration with the inefficiency of cherry harvesting. He spent his nights creating a maneuverable telescoping man-carrying bucket lift.

Eitel formed the Telsta Corporation and began producing the machines for Bell Telephone Company, which utility companies still use today. As an innovator, Eitel also designed shortwave communication equipment for the U.S. Military and other inventions. So, every lineman, utility company, or worker utilizing some form of an elevated work platform (EWP), boom lift, aerial device, or bucket truck has a frustrated 28-year-old cherry picker to thank.

Usually, I toss around the term “cherry picker” not as an act of actually picking cherries, though that may change if I get any fruit. (Dang deer.) We’d ask our children not to cherry-pick their facts. Our kids would come with presentations on why they should receive specific opportunities. They needed to present the good and the bad when arguing each case for more privileges such as a new phone, later bedtime, or TV time. Telling us their friends were all doing the chosen activity was never a good enough reason. We didn’t allow our children to present only the best news, which would be cherry-picking the facts. Since people picking cherries would only search for the best fruit, the word evolved to include anyone selecting facts that only support their opinion, not looking at a range of evidence.

There are other usages of cherry-picker, from Prince Albert’s 11th Hussars Cavalry Unit’s nickname to an exercise to strengthen one’s core. All of the variations are tied back to a tiny, red, pitted fruit harvested in early summer. Perhaps this year, I’ll even get to pick fruit from my own tree or find a disgruntled teen to help. So don’t cherry-pick the facts; just cherry-pick the tree.