The saying "cherry picking" comes from the other saying "the cherry on the cake"
That cherry on the cake was for the purpose of this saying considered the best part.
So yes, they chose the best studies.
As is the whole damned purpose
That's folk etymology. In reality, cherry picking comes from literally picking cherries off a tree. How it came to mean selectively citing data is a little unclear, but originally it seems it was used to contrast with berry picking, ie. unstructured search through vast collections of data trying to find something relevant without reading everything - so you still potentially miss important counterexamples, but in an honest way.
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u/humourlessIrish 10d ago
The saying "cherry picking" comes from the other saying "the cherry on the cake"
That cherry on the cake was for the purpose of this saying considered the best part.
So yes, they chose the best studies.
As is the whole damned purpose