Interesting Factoids.....Post them Here

sandiemag

Account Deleted at user's request.
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. :cheers:
 
In the early 1800's it was legal for men to beat their wives as long as they used a stick no wider than their thumb.

Hence the phrase, "rule of thumb"
 
Bananas can help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal. :smoke:
 
I'll keep that one in mind Sandie.

Here's a rather silly and pointless one: most houseflys hum in the key of F.
 
ok,im in.youve all heard the term so cold it can freeze the balls of a brass monkey.no,its not what you think.in the days of sailing ships the british navy had to pile the cannon balls near the cannons so they were readily available.they used a piece of cast brass with hollows in it that fit the cannon balls.the balls were then piled on the,yes you guessed it, "brass monkey".when it got real cold the brass would contract and the cannon balls would fall off. hence the term,freeze the balls of a brass monkey. only the brits eh?
 
In the early 1800's it was legal for men to beat their wives as long as they used a stick no wider than their thumb.

Hence the phrase, "rule of thumb"


That was also on a programme the other day about a small british Isle and its still legal there! I also heard that when i went to see a comic he told us the history of it.

Its nice to know how some of these daft sayings came about so please keep them coming peeps as they are rather interesting

Thanks for those who have shared so far
Linny
:rock on:
 
Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.
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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both frontlegs in the air, the person died in battle;
If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle;
If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
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Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.
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The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
 
The Life Of Reilly


Life of Riley

Meaning

An easy and pleasant life.

Origin

The phrase originated with the Irish/American soldiers in the US Army during WWI. The first known citation is in a letter from a Private Walter J. Kennedy, stationed at Camp Dix, New Jersey, which was published in The Syracuse Herald on 29th June 1918. The piece was headed "Great Life, Writes Soldier at Camp":

"This is surely one great life." writes Kennedy. "We call it the life of Riley. We are having fine eats, are in a great detachment and the experience one gets is fine."

Later that year, on 22nd October, The Bridgeport Telegram published a letter from Private Samuel S. Polley, 102 Regiment, stationed in France.

"They [German officers] must have led the life of Reilly as we caught them all asleep in beds..."

Who Riley (or Reilly, or Reiley) was isn't clear. If he had been a known individual then it surely would have been recorded. The lack of any such records points to the name being chosen as that of a generic Irishman, much as Paddy is used now.

The phrase may have been brought to America by Irish immigrants, although there's no known use of it in Ireland prior to 1918, or, more likely, it originated in the Irish community in the USA. It reached the wider public via the 1919 song by Howard Pease - My name is Kelly:

Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly,
but I'm living the life of Reiley just the same.
 
It is the internet myth that the name of the popular Scottish game Golf stands for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden." The word golf originates form medieval Scottish and Dutch dialects. Back in a day before the creation of dictionaries, there was no standardized spelling of any given word. So it is believed that word golf originates from Dutch word "kolf" or "kolve" which meant "club." Later on old Scots dialect transformed the word into "gouf" or "golve ." :)
 
Back To Square One square.gif

BBC Commentaries:

In order that listeners could follow the progress of football games in radio commentaries, the pitch was divided into eight notional squares. Commentators described the play by saying which square the ball was in. The Radio Times, the BBC's listings guide, referred to the practice in an issue from January 1927.

Commentaries that used a numbering system certainly happened and prints of the pitch diagrams still exist. Recordings of early commentaries also exist, including the very first broadcast sports commentary (of a rugby match). That commentary, and many others that followed, referred listeners to the printed maps and a second commentator called out the numbers as the ball moved from square to square. However, at no point in any existing commentary do they use the phrase 'back to square one'.

Despite this, the BBC issued a piece in a January 2007 edition of The Radio Times that celebrated 80 years of BBC football commentary. In this, the football commentator John Murray stated with confidence that "Radio Times' grids gave us the phrase 'back to square one'" and that "the grid system was dropped in the 1930s (not before the phrase 'back to square one' had entered everyday vocabulary)". This confidence is despite the fact that, although it could be true, it is nothing but conjecture. What is a fact is that the BBC broadcast a more measured view in the popular etymology series Balderdash and Piffle, in collaboration with the OED, in 2006. This questioned the claims that the BBC commentaries were the source of the phrase and that it was in circulation in the 1930s.

It's not the first time that BBC commentators have talked balderdash and piffle and I doubt it will be the last
 
Keep your shirt on - don't lose your temper!
In the days when the ordinary man had but two shirts, if that, he would strip his precious shirt off as well as his jacket before getting into a fight. Thus stripping off would be a sign of being ready to fight. Thus, to keep your shirt on meant staying calm and avoiding a fight. It is first recorded in the USA in George W. Harris's 1854 book Spirit of the Times: 'I say, you durned ash cats, just keep yer shirts on, will ye?' Keep your hair on, perhaps a humorous development of this, dates from the 1880s.
 
The increased electricity used by modern appliances is causing a shift in the Earth's magnetic field.
By the year 2327, the North Pole will be located in mid-Kansas, while the South Pole will be just off the coast of East Africa.
 
Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I keep my toothbrush in the living room now.)

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

Marilyn Monroe had six toes.

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.

A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why.
 
Did you know that:

Arachibutyrophobia- Is having a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
 
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