The origins of sayings and Why things are the way they are

[steve.m]

As the title suggests post your favorites.

Why is a Barber pole red/white/blue?
edit Barber (not dentist d'oh) once also removed ppls teeth and did bloodlettings. They would take their white bandages outside to dry. The red symbolizes blood, the blue is the coluor of the veins they would cut.

"mind your P's an Q's" - beer drinking related term when drunks use to get in fights in the bar, the bartender use to tell them this so they would not spill their beer in Pints and Quarts (sp?) hmm can't remember the right Q word.

"It is raining cats and dogs" a few hundred years ago ppl lived in cotages with some of their animals, the cats and dogs use to sleep up in the rafters odf the straw huts for warmth. When it would rain hard, the cats and dogs fell from the roof. hence this happens when it rains very hard.

"Rule of thumb" Beer yeast measurement term. Sticking thumb in brewing beer to determine if yeast fell or stayed up.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/sayings.htm



The following is Myth. I wonder how old the history channel program I watched was?
Where did the two finger salute (rude gesture) come from? Waring between french and english many years ago. French soldiers would cut finger/s off of english archers so they could never use their bows again. The english achers use the 2 finger salute to taunt the french "I've still have my fingers"

[Tiger the Lion]

As the title suggests post your favorites.

"Rule of thumb" Beer yeast measurement term. Sticking thumb in brewing beer to determine if yeast fell or stayed up.



Wasn't the Rule of Thumb that you could beat your wife, as long as the stick you used wasn't thicker than your thumb?

[steve.m]

it is quite possible that sayings are shared among many countries. The rule of thumb saying that I used is from the Discovery channel when Natasha was talking about how they make beer.

[felixdd]

Wasn't the Rule of Thumb that you could beat your wife, as long as the stick you used wasn't thicker than your thumb?

That's what I heard too

[UncleSteve]

Wasn't the Rule of Thumb that you could beat your wife, as long as the stick you used wasn't thicker than your thumb?

No. From the alt.usage.english FAQ:

"rule of thumb"
---------------

This term for "a simple principle having wide application but not
intended to be strictly accurate" dates from 1692. A frequently
repeated story is that "rule of thumb" comes from an old law
regulating wife-beating: "if a stick were used, it should not be
thicker than a man's thumb." Jesse Sheidlower writes at
:
"It seems that in 1782 a well-respected English judge named Francis
Buller made a public statement that a man had the right to beat his
wife as long as the stick was no thicker than his thumb. There was
a public outcry, with satirical cartoons in newspapers, and the
story still appeared in biographies of Buller written almost a
century later. Several legal rulings and books in the late
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mention the practice as
something some people believe is true. There are also earlier
precedents for the supposed right of a man to beat his wife.

"This 'rule' is probably not related to the phrase 'rule of
thumb', however. For one thing, the phrase is [...] attested
[earlier ...]. (Of course, it's possible that it was a well-known,
but unrecorded, practice before Buller.) Another problem is that
the phrase 'rule of thumb' is never found in connection with the
beating practice until the 1970s. Finally, there is no semantic
link [... from what was presumably a very specific distinction to
the current sense 'rough guideline']. The precise origin of 'rule
of thumb' is not certain, but it seems likely to refer to the thumb
as a rough measuring device ('rule' meaning 'ruler' rather than
'regulation'), which is a common practice. The linkage of the
phrase to the wife-beating rule appears to be based on a
misinterpretation of a 1976 National Organization of Women report,
which mentioned the phrase and the practice but did not imply a
connection. There is more information about this, with citations
from relevant sources, at the Urban Legends Archive."

Thumbs were used to measure *lots* of things (the first joint
was roughly one inch long before we started growing bigger, and
French _pouce_ means both "inch" and "thumb"). The phrase may also
come from ancient brewmasters' dipping their thumb in the brew to
test the temperature of a batch; or from a guideline for tailors:
"Twice around the thumb is once around the wrist..."

For a definitive rule of thumb, see the paper "Thumb's rule
tested: Visual angle of thumb's width is about 2 deg." by Robert P.
O'Shea in _Perception_, 20, 1991, pp. 415-418.

[Amourek]

Where did the two finger salute (rude gesture) come from? Waring between french and english many years ago. French soldiers would cut finger/s off of english archers so they could never use their bows again. The english achers use the 2 finger salute to taunt the french "I've still have my fingers"

Myth.

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.htm

[steve.m]

Myth.

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.htm
wow thanks for the correction. I learned that from the history channel. I will reseach some more to find out where it really comes from then. ans I'll edit the original post to correct the error.

edit added:
hmm all i can find is that Desmond Morris believes rude finger gestures have been around for thousands of years, and this maybe is only another variation with no proof it originated due to longbowmen.

[steve.m]

found some more
http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOrigins.htm

[JLee]

catch 22, i forgot where that was from, some help i am =(

[taxguru]

catch 22, i forgot where that was from, some help i am =(

A novel by Joseph Heller (http://www.levity.com/corduroy/heller.htm)

[steve.m]

buttons on your jacket arms are there because of Napoleon Bonaparte. He saw his soldiers wiping their nose in their sleeves too often. With time the look became fashionable and carried over to civilians' jackets, with the buttons moved to the side.

truth or myth?

[danfromwaterloo]

I always thought that Mind Your P's and Q's was just a contraction from "Mind your Pleases(Ps) and Thank Yous ("k yous" ~ Qs)"

[steve.m]

I always thought that Mind Your P's and Q's was just a contraction from "Mind your Pleases(Ps) and Thank Yous ("k yous" ~ Qs)"

I learned that one (beer drinking origin P's & Q's) from the discovery channel. It also may have multiple sources of oriign.

http://geekswithblogs.net/mtreadwell/archive/2004/04/03/3642.aspx

[zeroace]

The one I remember best is for why the passenger side of the car is called 'shotgun'

Back in the day when people would travel by horse carriage, one person would be the driver while the person next to him would be carrying the shotgun for protection. So, that's why the passenger seat is usually referred to 'shotgun'

[Newt]

The one I remember best is for why the passenger side of the car is called 'shotgun'

Back in the day when people would travel by horse carriage, one person would be the driver while the person next to him would be carrying the shotgun for protection. So, that's why the passenger seat is usually referred to 'shotgun'

I was told that it is because in Police cars, the shotgun is stored behind/under the passenger seat

[Newt]

Myth.

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.htm


OK so the middle finger thing is a myth. What is the truth then?

I am curious

[plymouthhater]

I always thought that Mind Your P's and Q's was just a contraction from "Mind your Pleases(Ps) and Thank Yous ("k yous" ~ Qs)"

Another variation of the "Mind your P's and Q's" - it originated with printers and typesetters where they were told to check their P's and Q's to make sure they were correctly placed when setting type as the actual characters were identical (just reversed).

[Amourek]

When a couple is walking on the sidewalk it is customary for the man to walk on the outside toward the street. You would think that it's because if a car were to jump the curb it would hit the man instead of the woman, but it's actually because in big cities people used to throw their garbage into the street. They'd never drop it directly below.

[steve.m]

I heard another one but it is a bit complicated to explain.
Why in some countries do the cars drive on different sides of the road eg america vs australia?

This dates back to the days of horse and carriage. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.


BUT

In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.




http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm

[zeroace]

I was told that it is because in Police cars, the shotgun is stored behind/under the passenger seat

It could work that way too. The guy sitting in the passenger seat would have easier access to use the shotgun when quickly needed.



wait.... the shotgun behind the passenger seat doesn't sound right to me...

[steve.m]

OK so the middle finger thing is a myth. What is the truth then?

I am curious



http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-pluck-yew.htm


The middle-finger gesture, which apparently has had phallic connotations in every culture in which it has been used, is much older. We know it dates back at least to ancient Greece, where it was referenced in "The Clouds," a play written by Aristophanes in 423 B.C. It was also well known to the Romans, who referred to it variously as digitus infamis ("infamous finger") and digitus impudicus ("indecent finger"). In all likelihood its origins were prehistoric.