Interesting trivia

[pam]

If you have seen these before, I apologize, for those that haven't, I hope you learn something new.

1. In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.'

2. Many years ago a game was invented in Scotland. It was ruled 'Gentleman Only...Ladies Forbidden.'.. and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

3. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time tv was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

4. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.

5. Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

6. Coca-cola was originally green.

7. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

8. The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

9. The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%

10. The percentage of North American that is wilderness: 38%

11. The cost of raising a medium size dog to age 11: $16,400

12. The average number of people airborne over the US at any given hour: 61,000

13. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

14. The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer

15. The San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monument.

16. If the statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front feet in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front foot in the air, the person died because of wounds received in a battle. If the horse has all four feet on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

17. 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. Hence the phrase 'Goodnight...sleep tight.'

18. In English pubs, ale was ordered in pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly then bartender would yell out "Mind your pints and quarts." Hence the phrase...'mind your p's and q's.'

19. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked in the rim, or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get service. Hence the phrase...'wet your whistle.'

20. At least 75% of people who read this will try and lick their elbow.

GOTCHA!! You tried it didn't you?

[Jamie123]

GOTCHA!! You tried it didn't you?

LOL - I thought about it, but didn't quite!

[pam]

Party pooper. haha

[begood2]

Thanks for sharing! I was realy surprised by some of the amswers!:)

[Jamie123]

The one about the p's and q's really surprised me. This is what I found out on The meanings and origins of sayings and phrases | List of sayings | English sayings | Idiom definitions | Idiom examples | Idiom origins | List of idioms | Idiom dictionary | Meaning of idioms

The date of the coinage of mind your Ps and Qs is uncertain. The OED used to print a citation from 1779 but, as they have now withdrawn it from the online version of the dictionary, presumably they consider it unreliable.

So, the meaning, spelling and coinage of the phrase are all debatable. Now we come to what is really uncertain - the derivation. Nevertheless, it is one of those phrases that people know the origin of. When pressed all that really means is that the person they heard explain the origin had made a random choice from the list of proposed derivations below. As no one knows the origin I'll just list those suggestions - mind your ps and qs probably derives from one of these:

- Mind your pints and quarts. This is suggested as deriving from the practise of chalking up a tally of drinks in English pubs (on the slate). Publicans had to make sure to mark up the quart drinks as distinct from the pint drinks. This explanation is widely repeated but there's little to support it, apart from the fact that pint and quart begin with p and q.

- Advice to printer’s apprentices to avoid confusing the backward-facing metal type lowercase Ps and Qs. I've never heard any suggestion that printer should mind their ds and bs though, even though that has the benefit of rhyming, which would have made it a more attractive slogan.

- Mind your pea (jacket) and queue (wig). Pea jackets were short, rough woollen overcoats, commonly worn by sailors in the 18th century. Perruques were full wigs worn by fashionable gentlemen. It is difficult to imagine the need for an expression to warn people to avoid confusing them.

- Mind your pieds (feet) and queues (wigs). This is suggested to have been an instruction given by French dancing masters to their charges. This has the benefit of placing the perruque in the right context - so long as we accept the phrase as being originally French. There's no reason to suppose it is from France and no version of the phrase exists in French.

- It is advice to children learning to write to take care not to mix up the lower-case letters p and q. Again, the 'd' and 'b' counter argument applies.

- It derived as reminder to children to be polite. This is supposed to be as a form of 'mind your pleases and thank-yous' - 'mind you pleases and kyous'. Pretty far-fetched that one.

- P and q stands for "prime quality." There is, or rather was as this now seems to have also been withdrawn, a 1612 citation which links PQ with 'prime quality'. If that's the origin why isn't the phrase mind your PQ?

The one about "pleases and kyous'" may be far-fetched, but it's pretty much what I was told it meant when I was a kid.

[BenRaines]

Pam, sounds like a lot of time spent in pubs. Enjoyed the post.

Ben Raines

[Hemidakota]

Oh man, the last one had me laughing...thanks Pam.

[hordak]

5. Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

women can't read the fine print. This is precisely why i no longer allow my wife to go car shopping solo

[pam]

women can't read the fine print. This is precisely why i no longer allow my wife to go car shopping solo

And perhaps why women claim "their husbands never listen to them."

[Captain_Curmudgeon]

16. If the statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front feet in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front foot in the air, the person died because of wounds received in a battle. If the horse has all four feet on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

And if the horse has all four feet in the air? You're seeing things.

[BenRaines]

The rider is a Saint. :)

Ben Raines

[Justinator1]

And if the horse has all four feet in the air? You're seeing things.

Translated?

Nice hidden text.

[hordak]

The rider is a Saint. :)

Ben Raines

I was thinking the apocalypse

[pam]

I was thinking more a lousy sculpturer? Wait..is that how you spell it? Nothing looks right today.

[Justinator1]

Nothing looks right today.

Does that mean I should avoid mirrors?

[pam]

haha not at all

[Generally_Me]

And if the horse has all four feet in the air? You're seeing things.

It means the horse is dead, obviously

[pam]

That thought crossed my mind..but then I thought..wait..it's a statue. It's not alive anyway. But I still like your answer.

[Captain_Curmudgeon]

Nothing looks right today.

OK, then think of an equestrian statue with all four feet in the air. Look right?

[john doe]

And perhaps why women claim "their husbands never listen to them."

Oh, I listen just fine. I'm just tuned to another station.

[StallionMcBeastly]

Good post!

[beefche]

If you have seen these before, I apologize, for those that haven't, I hope you learn something new.

1. In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.'

2. Many years ago a game was invented in Scotland. It was ruled 'Gentleman Only...Ladies Forbidden.'.. and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language. Not true. See link here Origin and Meaning of the Word Golf

3. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time tv was Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Not true...snopes.com: First TV Couple in Same Bed

4. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury. Some say this might be changing....

5. Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

6. Coca-cola was originally green.Nope...snopes.com: Coca-Cola Originally Green?

7. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

8. The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

9. The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%

10. The percentage of North American that is wilderness: 38%

11. The cost of raising a medium size dog to age 11: $16,400

12. The average number of people airborne over the US at any given hour: 61,000

13. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

14. The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer

15. The San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monument.

16. If the statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front feet in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front foot in the air, the person died because of wounds received in a battle. If the horse has all four feet on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

17. 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. Hence the phrase 'Goodnight...sleep tight.'

18. In English pubs, ale was ordered in pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly then bartender would yell out "Mind your pints and quarts." Hence the phrase...'mind your p's and q's.'

19. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked in the rim, or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get service. Hence the phrase...'wet your whistle.' Actually, it appears that "whistle" in Old English referred to the throat or voice--thus, to wet your whistle was to wet your throat.

20. At least 75% of people who read this will try and lick their elbow. How do they know this? Do they have spy cameras on all computers?

GOTCHA!! You tried it didn't you?

Some of these aren't true. I have to admit that I had some fun looking these up. I didn't research each one, but just the ones that sounded off to me.

[pam]

I didn't care if they were right or not. The point was the last one.

[ploomf]

Don't try to lick your elbow at work. You co-workers will think you are nuts. Of course mine already think I'm nuts, this was just confirming it.

[Moksha]

16. If the statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front feet in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front foot in the air, the person died because of wounds received in a battle. If the horse has all four feet on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

What positions might the horse assume if the person died in the bathroom or in bed?