Mallory Kane,Intrique Author

INTERESTING TIDBITS -- WORD ORIGINS
(copied from an anonymous E-Mail)

All languages have well-used expressions that, in turn, have roots that are often so logical that
the logic is amusing. A few:

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses rested on a criss-cross of ropes, that were attached to the wooden frames. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress lost their sag, became tighter, more firm for a better sleep. Hence the phrase, "Good night. Sleep tight."

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that the father-in-law provide his new son-in-law with all the mead he could drink for a month after the wedding. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month", the origin of the word honeymoon.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their pints and quarts and settle down, the origin of "Mind your P's and Q's."

In the same period in England, pub frequenters could buy their own personal mugs that had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of the mug. When they needed a refill, they blew on their whistle to get service. Thus the phrase to "Wet your whistle".

For several hundred years in the English Royal Court, a courtiers could not have sex unless they got the consent of the King. Getting such consent, they would hang a sign on their door that gave notice of the Royal permission. The placards, which were abbreviated, gave notice of "Fornication Under Consent of the King". I leave the abbreviation to you. True story.

In a similar spirit of abbreviation, when the new game was invented in Scotland, the courses where it was played were posted "Gentlemen Only. Ladies Forbidden" ... and thus the word "Golf" entered into our vocabulary.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb ? The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, GP.

TIDBITS -- Other

While not word or phrase derivation, here is some trivia: The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver."

The sentence "The quick brown > fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications.)

The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.


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	INTERESTING TIDBITS -- WORD ORIGINS (copied from an anonymous E-Mail) All languages have well-used expressions that, in turn, have roots that are often so logical that the logic is amusing. A few: In Shakespeare's time, mattresses rested on a criss-cross of ropes, that were attached to the wooden frames. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress lost their sag, became tighter, more firm for a better sleep. Hence the phrase, "Good night. Sleep tight." It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that the father-in-law provide his new son-in-law with all the mead he could drink for a month after the wedding. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month", the origin of the word honeymoon. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their pints and quarts and settle down, the origin of "Mind your P's and Q's." In the same period in England, pub frequenters could buy their own personal mugs that had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of the mug. When they needed a refill, they blew on their whistle to get service. Thus the phrase to "Wet your whistle". For several hundred years in the English Royal Court, a courtiers could not have sex unless they got the consent of the King. Getting such consent, they would hang a sign on their door that gave notice of the Royal permission. The placards, which were abbreviated, gave notice of "Fornication Under Consent of the King". I leave the abbreviation to you. True story. In a similar spirit of abbreviation, when the new game was invented in Scotland, the courses where it was played were posted "Gentlemen Only. Ladies Forbidden" ... and thus the word "Golf" entered into our vocabulary. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards." The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb ? The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, GP. TIDBITS -- Other While not word or phrase derivation, here is some trivia: The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver." The sentence "The quick brown > fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications.) The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.	Whose Skin Am I In? (Point of View) What Keeps Me Writing? (Motivation) Tidbits (Hilarity)
	*In Memoriam* Maude Lucenda Enis Ricks January 23, 1922-February 28, 2008 my beautiful, heroic mother. January 26, 1920-January 13, 2010 My handsome loving father and my mother's knight in shining armor.