Origin of the term Lemon

AugustusMaximus

Might have been done to death on here but I'm just wondering does the term "Lemon" in relation to cars have anything to do with Citroen's previous reliability record ?

Fey!

leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Seth Brundle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_(automobile)

Origin
The term 'lemon' to describe a highly flawed item predates its use in describing cars.

Market
Economist George Akerlof examined the market of lemons in his notable paper: "The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism", published in Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1970, in which he identified the severe lemon problems that may afflict markets characterized by asymmetrical information. He eventually received a Nobel Prize for the broad applications of the theory in this paper.

sogood

When I was a kid growing up, the term "lemoner" was used to describe a disappointment or a setback. Why would a bad car be also described as a shed? Abbreviation perhaps for a "shedload of trouble"?

Esel

I prefer a henhouse.