Last one today, promise I'll keep it to six.
1. 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. That's were the phrase, "goodnight sleep tight" came from.
2. It was accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the brides father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calender was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the honymoon."
3. In English pub's, ale was ordered in pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle 's where we get the phrase " mind your P's and Q's.
Have you had enough yet?, no ok
4. 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(Hey maybewe could adopt that for the GFZ)
5. In Scotland, a new game was invented. I t was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.....and thus the world GOLF entered into the English language.
6. In ancient England, a person could not have sex unless you had the 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.*.*.*.*(FornicationUnder Consent of the King) on it. Now you Know.
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Where did that phrase come from?
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Sex God
1: false ("tight" in the sense "'soundly, properly, well, effectively". )
2: false (the sweetness of a new marriage, and acknowledgement that this sweetness will wane. Oxford English Dictionary)
3: very unlikely (more probable is advice to children learning write. p and q are easily confused. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)
4: false (the throat was referred to as one's "whistle" as far back as the 14th century. Oxford English Dictionary)
5: false (Scottish goulf or gowf "to strike or cuff" is much more likely. )
6: false (Sappho has already dealt with this. )
"Odeon" is the Greek word for a kind of theatre.
Rule of thumb: Never trust "too good to be true" folk etymology, and never use your thumb as a rule.
2: false (the sweetness of a new marriage, and acknowledgement that this sweetness will wane. Oxford English Dictionary)
3: very unlikely (more probable is advice to children learning write. p and q are easily confused. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)
4: false (the throat was referred to as one's "whistle" as far back as the 14th century. Oxford English Dictionary)
5: false (Scottish goulf or gowf "to strike or cuff" is much more likely. )
6: false (Sappho has already dealt with this. )
"Odeon" is the Greek word for a kind of theatre.
Rule of thumb: Never trust "too good to be true" folk etymology, and never use your thumb as a rule.
:lol:Quick retraction. Odeum is a Greek/Roman theatre (so says my dictionary). Is it not possible that a geezer called Oskar Deutsch thought "Hang on eine minuten, if I swapped a few words around then maybe... just maybe..."?
Please say it could be. It sounds so cool and I really want it to be true!
Please say it could be. It sounds so cool and I really want it to be true!
There is evidence that (1) is actually really spot on, as the V & A would tell you - and the Oxford dictionery does not get it 100% right.
For example it is laughably coy about the meaning of gobbledegook - the word comes from what women's mouths are full of when they give a B.J.!!!
Nothing to do with the OED's childishly coy stories about turkey noises!!
The rest, I agree, the OED lays to waste (eg. 'golf' from Dutch 'kolf' for club, bat).
For example it is laughably coy about the meaning of gobbledegook - the word comes from what women's mouths are full of when they give a B.J.!!!
Nothing to do with the OED's childishly coy stories about turkey noises!!
The rest, I agree, the OED lays to waste (eg. 'golf' from Dutch 'kolf' for club, bat).
Oskar Deutsch, this was on the discovery channel aparently he was a Hungarian Jew who was given asylum in Britain during WW2, he was so grateful that he wanted to give the British people something so built an empire of luxury cinema's. And as has been said,
Oskar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation.
If I'm wrong don't all shout at me, I saw it on the telly!
Oskar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation.
If I'm wrong don't all shout at me, I saw it on the telly!
Sex God
odeum: a building for musical performances, esp. among the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Odd things happen when transliterating from non-Roman alphabets like Greek. oideion -> Odeon is quite believable.
Ooh! Battle of the dictionaries! :-) I must get myself a proper OED one day.
Odd things happen when transliterating from non-Roman alphabets like Greek. oideion -> Odeon is quite believable.
Ooh! Battle of the dictionaries! :-) I must get myself a proper OED one day.
I'm fascinated by the origin of words:
did you know:
to 'TIP' comes from 'To Insure Promptitude', and originated around 17th Century to encourage serving types to get your ale to you..
A 'caddy' in golf derives from 'cadet' (a younger sibling-taken as any junior-used for menial tasks)
won't burden you with more...yet
did you know:
to 'TIP' comes from 'To Insure Promptitude', and originated around 17th Century to encourage serving types to get your ale to you..
A 'caddy' in golf derives from 'cadet' (a younger sibling-taken as any junior-used for menial tasks)
won't burden you with more...yet
I love Jonathan Glancey's pieces in The Guardian. Architecture is something I wish I had a talent for but alas, it wasn't to be.
However, there's nothing I like more than walking around Manchester city centre on a winters Saturday morning with a takeaway cappucino, just looking at all of the marvellous buildings.
Speaking of which, I can't believe it's being mooted that one of the most iconic buildings in the city (Granada TV on Quay Street) is earmarked for demolition. The glow of the red neon lights still holds a strange fascination for me.
*sniff*
Sorry, this is totally out of keeping with the thread isn't it?
However, there's nothing I like more than walking around Manchester city centre on a winters Saturday morning with a takeaway cappucino, just looking at all of the marvellous buildings.
Speaking of which, I can't believe it's being mooted that one of the most iconic buildings in the city (Granada TV on Quay Street) is earmarked for demolition. The glow of the red neon lights still holds a strange fascination for me.
*sniff*
Sorry, this is totally out of keeping with the thread isn't it?
Very long winded dictionary of word origins said
Similarly
.... sneaks off to patent cure for insomnia
"Fuck" does NOT stand for "for unlawful carnal knowledge" or
"fornication under consent of the king". It is not an acronym for
anything at all.
It is a very old word, recorded in English since the 15th
century (few acronyms predate the 20th century), with cognates
in other Germanic languages. The Random House Historical
Dictionary of American Slang (Random House, 1994, ISBN
0-394-54427-7) cites Middle Dutch _fokken_ = "to thrust, copulate
with"; Norwegian dialect _fukka_ = "to copulate"; and Swedish
dialect _focka_ = "to strike, push, copulate" and _fock_ = "penis".
Although German _ficken_ may enter the picture somehow, it is
problematic in having e-grade, or umlaut, where all the others have
o-grade or zero-grade of the vowel.
Similarly
It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey." This explanation appears to be a legend of the sea without historical justification. In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun crew. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C. Nepean. The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981): 64. A top view of shot garlands on the upper deck of a ship-of-the-line is depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991):
.... sneaks off to patent cure for insomnia
:grin: Orgasminator
Although it's useage is now very 'infra dig' or politically incorrect, to use todays parlance.
The word WOG is actually an acronym.
It originated, allegedly, during WW1 in North Africa in a memo from a senior officer who stated that: Henceforth the native population should not be referred to in derogatory terms, but as to Worthy Oriental Gentlemen.
This may of course be legend, but I cannot see why anyone should take offence at it.
Harry0
The word WOG is actually an acronym.
It originated, allegedly, during WW1 in North Africa in a memo from a senior officer who stated that: Henceforth the native population should not be referred to in derogatory terms, but as to Worthy Oriental Gentlemen.
This may of course be legend, but I cannot see why anyone should take offence at it.
Harry0
