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Byter Steve M sent me an email:
A couple of interesting things here…mind you P’s and Q’s in particular…it’s probably a crock of you know what!
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The item that Steve sent was as follows:
In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.
Hence we have:
'the rule of thumb'
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Many years ago in
Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled
‘Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden’.
Thus, the word GOLF entered the English language.
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The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred & Wilma Flintstone
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Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
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Coca-Cola was originally green.
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It is impossible to lick your elbow.
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The State with the
Highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
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The percentage of
Africa that is wilderness: 28%
The percentage of
North America that is wilderness: 38%
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The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $16,400
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The average number
of people airborne over the U.S. In any given hour: 61,000
(this is significantly less since Covid-19)
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Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
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The first novel written on a typewriter:
'Tom Sawyer'
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The San Francisco
Cable cars are the
only mobile National Monuments.
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Each king in a deck
Of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades:
King David
Hearts:
Charlemagne
Clubs:
Alexander The Great
Diamonds:
Julius Caesar
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111,111,111 x
111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321
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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air,
the person died in battle.
If the horse has one front leg in the air,
the person died because of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
(If the statue is on the ground it is because of political reasons!)
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Only two people
signed the 'Declaration of Independence' on July 4 ….. John Hancock & Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2; but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
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Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace
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Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
A. Obsession
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Q. If you were to
spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter 'A'?
A. One Thousand
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Q. What do
Bulletproof vests, Fire escapes, Windshield wipers & Laser Printers have in common?
A. All were invented by women.
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Q. What is the only
Food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
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In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by rope.
When you pulled on the rope, the mattress tightened,
making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase:
'Goodnight, sleep tight'
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It was the accepted
practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
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In English pubs, ale
is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when
customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them
'Mind your pints & quarts, & settle down'
It's where we get the phrase: 'mind your P's & Q's'
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Many years ago in
England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service.
'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice.
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At least 75% of
people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
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Some of these have been looked at in Bytes in the past and disproven.
The following is a 2020 fact check article from USA Today at:
It looks at some of the main ones above and comes to the conclusion that:
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Article:
Fact check:
Origin stories for popular phrases are nothing more than urban legends
A list claims of common idioms have various origins. USA TODAY took a look at each claim on the list and found most of these are nothing more than unproven urban legends.
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"In the 1400s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.' "
In April 1998, the Baltimore Sun investigated the etymology of "rule of thumb" and found no clear evidence that the domestic abuse story was true. The Sun suggested the phrase could have come from brewers' practice of using their thumb to test the temperature of beer.
“Despite the phrase being in common use since the 17th century and appearing many thousands of times in print, there are no printed records that associate it with domestic violence until the 1970s, when the notion was castigated by feminists,” explained website the Phrase Finder.
Both the Sun and the Phrase Finder acknowledged a story in which a judge supposedly told a man he could beat his wife with a stick so long as it was thinner than his thumb. Allegedly, Judge Sir Francis Buller’s 1782 decision inspired cartoonist James Gillray to publish a satirical illustration the following year, which dubbed him "Judge Thumb."
However, there is no evidence Buller ever made this decision. “(N)o substantial evidence has been found that he ever expressed so ungallant an opinion,” Edward Foss wrote in "The Judges of England" after investigating the claim in 1870.
“(F)igures of speech can work much the same way that urban legends do: They may appear mysteriously, spread spontaneously and contain elements of humor or horror. And, like urban legends, a figure of speech may contain a grain of emotional, if not actual, truth,” wrote the Sun.
Both sources concluded the term is more likely to derive from a thumb’s use for general measurements (distance, alignment, temperature, etc.) than the domestic violence legend.
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"Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden' ... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language."
The first documented use of the word "golf" was on March 6, 1457, in Edinburgh by King James II. Several sources confirm golf cannot be an acronym because the word was used in different variations before there was a standardized spelling.
According to the USGA, "golf" is not an acronym but a Scottish adaptation from the Dutch word "kolf" or "kolve," which meant "club" and was a Dutch game played with a ball and a stick. USGA notes that the Scots adapted the term to "goff" or "gouff" in the 14th and 15th centuries until it ultimately became "golf" in the 16th century.
Scottish Golf History suggests the term may have, “derived from Scots words 'golf,' 'golfand' and 'golfing,' which mean 'to strike' as in 'to cuff' or 'to drive forward with violence.'"
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"Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar"
Snopes debunked this claim in 2007, concluding that although the kings on cards had assigned specific kings and queens for a period between the 15th and 18th centuries, the practice was never standardised. Modern playing cards no longer represent specific royals.
The Atlantic noted that British and French decks of playing cards do tend to feature the same four kings, Charles, David, Caesar and Alexander the Great.
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"In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes... Hence the phrase... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'"
Indiana University's Wylie House Museum debunked this myth in 2018. Wylie House noted that the first documented use of the phrase “sleep tight” wasn’t until 1866, centuries after rope beds were invented in the 16th century. The phrase's late origins indicate it was not in reference to rope bed frames.
Wylie House noted that the word "tight" was often associated with safety or comfort, like many people colloquially say they are "tight" with a friend or family member. "Sleep tight" more likely references wishing someone a good night’s sleep than a rope bed frame.
The Phrase Finder investigated the claim and also concluded it had more to do with the meaning of the word tight than the furniture.
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"It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink ... this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon."
Country Living and Insider both took a look at the claim and found there is more to the story.
There are several theories about origins of the term "honeymoon." According to a 2016 Country Living article, couples did drink honey-based alcohol on the “moon” after their wedding throughout history. Wedding guests often gifted the couple “mead” in hopes of an early pregnancy since the alcoholic beverage was believed to be an aphrodisiac.
Dictionary.com states that “honeymoon” references customs of giving newlyweds mead to last through the sweet period after the wedding.
"The word may come from the Nordic word ‘hjunottsmanathr.’ This refers to when the groom would actually kidnap his bride and hide her until her family stopped looking for her," wedding trend expert Kim Forrest told Country Living.
Oxford English Dictionary traced early use of the word to British writer Robert Greene before his death in 1592. Greene uses the word “honney moon” to describe the sweet (like honey) short period of time (like a month or lunar cycle) after a marriage.
“Hony mone, a term proverbially applied to such as be newly married, which will not fall out at the first, but th'one loveth the other at the beginning exceedingly, the likelihood of their exceeding love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people call the hony mone,” wrote 16th century author Richard Huloet.
Insider reports honeymoons didn’t refer to vacations until 1791.
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"In old England, when customers became unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.' It's where we get the phrase 'mind your Ps and Qs'."
Snopes found similar claims that "mind your Ps and Qs" came from bartenders telling patrons to "mind their pints and quarts" to be false in 2010. The term, which was first recorded on 1756, has several possible origin stories.
Business Insider investigated the phrase's origin in 2015 and concluded there was no evidence to support the urban legend. The article referred to several versions of the phrase used during the 17th century in a singular rather than plural context to debunk the "pints and quarts" theory.
(I have previously written about this, the most common explanation being that it was a caution to printers to be careful when setting type, the Ps and Qs being in compartments next to each other.
- Otto)
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"Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice."
Whistle has been a metaphor for mouths since the 14th century because it is an instrument for noise. “(W)histle logically calls for wet — similarly, the mouthpiece of a musical instrument sometimes needs to be wetted,” Merriam-Webster explains.
According to Merriam-Webster, the term came to reference drinking, especially alcohol, over time.
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"In 1696, William III of England introduced a property tax that required those living in houses with more than six windows to pay a levy. In order to avoid the tax, house owners would brick up all windows except six... As the bricked-up windows prevented some rooms from receiving any sunlight, the tax was referred to as 'daylight robbery'!"
Although William III of England did enact a Window Tax that inspired some taxpayers to brick up their windows, the Phrase Finder states the tax is unrelated to the term because the phrase isn’t documented until 1916.
In 1916, Harold Brighouse’s comic play, "Hobson’s Choice," used the term in a context outside the Window Tax.
“So, if the phrase came from the Window Tax, why no mention of it in print for over two hundred years after the tax was introduced?” asked the Phrase Finder. “Unless and until evidence that relates the phrase to the tax is found we have to say that the origin is unknown.”
Idiom Origins agrees the Window Tax myth is a hoax. “Daylight robbery is simply what is suggested by the phrase, a robbery that takes place in broad daylight; hence its figurative meaning as a blatant over-charging for goods or services,” Idiom Origins concludes.
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