Oranges are now the size of tennis balls?

[pscot]

They used to be a lot bigger.

[BlueJazz]

1. It's fun to suck the juice out of them

[Richard Steele]

2. I have had many oranges over the years- It's not the size that I care about.

GOOD oranges are sweeter than candy, and the good ones
come in all sizes.
Sometimes they're much smaller than tennis balls,
and sometimes they are almost as big as my head.

Big or small, they're all good if the lady
who offers them to me has a nice voice
and a certain twinkle in her eye.

[Chan790]

3. There are many varieties of oranges...

ranging over a variety of sizes from barely larger than a clementine to the size of a grapefruit. The sizes of oranges have always ranged over a diverse spectrum of sizes. However, most varieties of oranges are and always have been about the size of tennis balls. Of the common consumer varieties, only Navel and Valencia varieties are as large as the ones in the artwork or as you seem to be implying all oranges are.

I can guess what varieties you grew up eating, thusly.

(What is inexplicable is why is the Hispanic woman holding the plate with those oranges on it topless?)

[gmoney]

4. She's Tahitian... it's a Gauguin bastardization

http://www.oil-paintings-reproductions.com/Articles/Paul-Gauguin.html

[pscot]

6. It isn't as though I have much choice

in the matter. Navel oranges are what's generally available. Typically these range in size from 3.5 to 4.5 inches in diameter. The navel oranges in the stores this year are much smaller, and the proportion of flesh to rind is a lot less. I'm guessing it's related growing conditions. I think the best orange I've ever eaten was grown in Israel. We don't get them here.

[Chan790]

7. I do know what you mean.

I bought a bag of navels last week that were still green on one side while starting to "pass" on the bottoms of the fruit, pithy and fibrous as hell.

[mix]

5. You've never played tennis, have you? nt

[seaglass]

8. And they are .99 each. I bought grapefruit instead. :-(

[Brother Buzz]

9. Thankfully, melons are still the size of melons, anyway you slice them