In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"
Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
Coca-Cola was originally green.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...)
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All were invented by women.
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."
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 your pints and quarts, and settle down."
It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"
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.
There you go - some totally useless bits of info for you.
Here are some interesting facts about South Carolina:
Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
There are 5000 types of snakes, and 4998 live in South Carolina.
There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in South Carolina, plus a couple that nobody has seen before.
Squirrels will eat anything.
Unknown critters love to dig holes under tomato plants.
Raccoons will test your crop of melons and let you know when they are ripe.
If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.
A tractor is NOT an all-terrain vehicle. They do get stuck.
Onced and Twiced are words.
It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy.
Fire ants consider your flesh a picnic.
People actually grow and eat okra.
"Fixinto" is one word.
There ain't no such thing as "lunch." There's "dinner" and then there's "supper."
Sweet tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two.
"Backards and farards" means, "I know everything about you."
"Jeet?" is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"
You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is.
You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
You know you're from South Carolina if:
1. You measure distance in minutes.
2. You've ever had to switch from heat to air conditioning in the same day.
3. You see a car running in a store parking lot with no one in it no matter what time of the year.
4. You use "fix" as a verb. Example: I am fixing to go to the store.
5. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
6. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
7. You carry jumper cables in your car... for your OWN car.
8. You know what "cow tipping" is.
9. You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete, and Duke's mayonnaise.
10. The local papers cover national and international news on one page and six pages for local gossip and sports.
11. Your think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
12. You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm."
13. You know all four seasons: almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.
14. Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as "Goin'wal-martin" or "Off to ' Wally World'."
15. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean weather.
16. A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola, or pop...it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: "What kinna coke you want?"
17. Fried Catfish is the other white meat.
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It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's">>
I don't believe that's true. I think it had something to do with typewriters and the P/Q's looking similar.
Sorry , but at least a couple of the others are way off the mark too.
Rule Of Thumb:- This term actually originated through the practice of woodworkers not using rulers to measure their work, they were experienced enough to guage their work by counting off using their thumb from the knuckle to the end. Incidentally, the distance from knuckle to the end of the thumb for an adult male is almost always within a gnats whisker of one inch.
Golf: The term actually originated from the old Dutch word kolf, which meant a club. This transformed through old Scots dialect to golve and then on to golf. the word golf in its present form was first used in the 16th Century.
Mind your P's and Q's:- More likely to have derived from the days when print setters had to make up printing blocks by hand. The letters placed into the block were a miorror image of what came out on the paper, so it was easy to get the small P's and Q's mixed up.
Sleep tight:- Tight appears in the dictionary as an adverb which means soundly or properly. The adverb tight is old fashioned and has fallen out of use, but two hundred years ago sleep tight would have been a perfectly normal thing to say and would simply mean to sleep soundly.
iGSM wrote: <<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 your pints and quarts, and settle down."
It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's">>
I don't believe that's true. I think it had something to do with typewriters and the P/Q's looking similar.
Correct iGSM.
It actually comes from the old fashioned-hot metal printing presses which were used to make newspapers and magazines before the electronic computerised presses of today.
The metal plate would be made as a mirror image of what was to be printed on the paper, and it was very easy when making up these backward faces to mix-up the letters 'p' and 'q' - hence, 'mind your p's and q's'.
Edit: Sorry Teo_torriate04 - but I did not read your posting before I wrote this!