posted on August 11, 2001 04:06:44 PMEver wonder how certain phrases worked their way into our everyday language? Well, here are a couple of surprises..if you have some please feel free to add to the list!
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 their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the
phrase "mind your P's and 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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In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only
Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English
language.
posted on August 11, 2001 04:19:56 PM
Probably not news to many but here goes.
One of the early computers had a problem, it was giving incorrect information. This was before the electronics of today, they had to use mechanical contacts on relays that opened and closed making a connection. They examined they system for some time unable to find out why the computer wasn't agreeing with the slide rule. Finally they found that a dead moth had gotten into one of the relays and while the relay was given the command to close and was functioning the dead moth prevented the contacts from making a connection. This was the first computer "bug". Now with modern day electronics there are no mechanical switches, but they still refer to a "bug" in the system when the software malfunctions.
posted on August 11, 2001 04:27:44 PM
Verrry interesting...thank you...glad to see you posting Hepburn has bandana's in various colors to choose from!!
posted on August 11, 2001 06:31:04 PM
ZILVY
Relax ladies.....
I found this on th web.....
The Origin of the word "golf"
This is the most common question I get asked. It is not, as is widely supposed, an acronym for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden"! Here's the story:
The word "golf" is recorded as long ago as 1457, in the statutes of the Scottish Parliament, when the sport was banned because it interfered with archery practice. The word was also spelled "gowf", reflecting the way the Scots pronounced it. Some say the word derives from an Old Dutch or Old German word "kolb, kolven" meaning club, clubs.
posted on August 11, 2001 06:40:09 PM
Sorry ZILVY
.....I didn’t mean to correct you......
But I took an ass chewing from Mrs Sinner
when I told her the golf = ladies forbidden thing...
posted on August 11, 2001 07:02:04 PM
A frog in your throat:
Medieval physicians believed that the secretions of a frog could cure a cough if they were coated on the throat of the patient. The frog was placed in the mouth of the sufferer and remained there until the physician decided that the treatment was complete.
I also found the origin of "beat around the bush" but didn't want to chance turning this into another political thread.
posted on August 11, 2001 09:04:48 PMzilvy - according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, p's and q's means:
Etymology: from the phrase mind one's p's and q's, alluding to the difficulty a child learning to write has in distinguishing between p and q Date: 1779
That's what I always understood it to mean as well, although I have read other sources that mention the origin is uncertain. Not that the fate of the free world rests on the correct answer or anything
posted on August 11, 2001 09:17:33 PM
(To paraphrase a song) In this world of ordinary people, eXtraordinary people..... , times and places there is bound to be more than one explanation of how a phrase came into being, please don't feel you have to correct me..or apologize...this is a for fun thread flying in the face of political doldrums...lay on MacDuffs!! Add, delete, alter, addendumize, plagerize, liberalize....notice the IZE have it. GO FORTH AND HAVE PHUN!!!
Mybiddness!!