tomato effect
n.— «Despite enough evidence, my friend’s neighbour found it difficult to accept that anybody could actually profit from reading such patterns. He suffers from the “Tomato effect.” What is this? In the early 18th century, Americans considered the tomato poisonous despite the fact that Europeans consumed the red fruit and still lived to see another day. Two physicians borrowed this behaviour to the medical world and coined it the “Tomato effect.” James Goodwin and Jean Goodwin found that people rejected treatment for certain diseases because it did not “make sense” in the light of the accepted theories of disease mechanism.» —“Tomato effect” by B. Venkatesh Business Line (India) Aug. 6, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The English language has been greatly enriched by borrowings from the languages of Asia. Barely scratching the surface, we have from Japan skosh, tycoon, tsunami, origami, yen, kimono, futon, and karaoke. From Chinese comes yen, kowtow, gung ho, and...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...