Another of life's many unanswered questions hey?! This one in particular is from my IC Tyran – he continues to amuse and stimulate my mind in weird and wonderful ways! But when you associate and surround yourself with people who constantly question and wonder about life and our purpose in it – it makes you think and question pretty much anything and everything. It makes you feel so much more connected to others, it feeds your soul!
I wrestle with life's great unanswered questions all the time. For instance, I'd like to know if Albert Einstein knew he looked so nerdy? Did he make a conscious choice to grow a 'fro at 70 or does that just happen to people who get too close to nuclear fission?! Why do cars speed up just when I'm trying to pass them? Why does 90% of all bad weather occur on weekends? Why haven't I won the lottery yet? Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs. Why do British people never sound British when they sing? How do they get those boats in those glass bottles?
Ok perhaps these are not groundbreaking and philosophically sound questions – but they are fun! It is interesting to see where our everyday sayings and expressions originate from.
Some popular Ye Old English Sayings:
“Goodnight, Sleep Tight” - In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on.
“Honeymoon” - 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".
"Mind your P's and Q's" - 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.
In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only - Ladies Forbidden... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
In 1945, an IBM researcher named Grace Hopper was trying to fix a problem in one of the first electronic computers. She discovered a moth jamming a relay and coined the term "bug" for any computer glitch.
“Beat around the bush” - Game birds were scared out of their hiding places under bushes and then killed.
“Saved by the Bell” - When our ancestors realized that they were burying a great deal of people before their time had actually come, they came up with a solution. They tied a string onto the "dead" person's hand, buried them, and tied the other end of the string to a bell and then tied it to nearby tree branch. If the person revived enough to ring the bell, their survivors would rush out and dig them up. Hence... "saved by the bell"
“Getting the short end of the stick” - Candles were expensive to make, so often reeds were dipped in tallow and burned instead. When visitors came, it was the custom for guests to make their exit by the time the lights went out. Therefore, if your host didn't want you to stay very long, he would give you a "short stick."
“Giving someone the cold shoulder” - When a guests would over stay their welcome as house guests, the hosts would (instead of feeding them good, warm meals) give their too-long staying guests the worst part of the animal, not warmed, but the COLD SHOULDER.
“Mind your own beeswax” - This came from the days when smallpox was a regular disfigurement. Fine ladies would fill in the pocks with beeswax. However when the weather was very warm the wax might melt. But it was not the thing to do for one lady to tell another that her makeup needed attention. Hence the sharp rebuke to "mind your own beeswax!"
“Cloud nine” - It is of relatively recent origin. The US weather bureau listed the different cloud formations and assigned them numbers. Cumulous clouds are #9.
And last, but not least…
In ancient England, a person could not have sex unless you had consent of the King (unless you were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have a baby, they got consent of the King, the King gave them a placard that they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.*.*.*. (Fornication Under Consent of the King) on it. Now you know where the "F" word came from!!
And so the list carries on…English is really such a complex and strange language! Well that’s a bit of useless literary information for you to do with what you like.
And now I must go and book hostels for my HungryCzech with Jo and Sharon and fulfill my organizing hobbit duties!
Safe travels xxx
