“PHRASES THAT PLEASE” – By Des Kelly
This writer has always loved phrases. They make for interesting reading in all situations. I have been an avid reader of books, since I was “knee-high to a grasshopper”,
talking about phrases, and it was purely because of this first love-affair of mine, that I was able to get the Education I needed, as Maths, Algebra, Geometry, Science, etc., etc., never did interest me. I just loved to read anything I could lay my hands on, used to get a kick out of “sniffing” the pages of “print”, especially from age-old books in the magnificent library of my very first School, the Convent of Our Lady Of Victories, in Moratuwa, at around the age of 6.
First, it was books, then it was the “Stage” at this same School, where Music (something I was born with) & “Acting” came to the fore. I did my first “solo” spot, singing on-stage, at around the same age, later, attending St.Sebastian’s College, still in Moratuwa, and finished my education ?!!, to leave College, at St.Peter’s College, (& home), at 15 + to enter the “University of Life”, with an English Circus Troupe who were in the process of doing a tour in & around the little Island, I called home. All during this time, I continued reading, sometimes, as many as two or three Novels a day.
But, back to “Phrases”. This lot of interesting “stuff” was forwarded to eLanka via both Vernon Davidson & Keith Bennett, so I decided to get my 15 cents worth, in, & here’s hoping that my thousands of eLanka readers will get at least a modicum of interest from firstly, “Catch-Phrases”.
There are thousands of them, and to name just one or three, here goes. Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny, “What’s up, Doc”?!!,
Tommy Cooper, British Comedian’s quote, “Just like that”!!,
Drew Bundini Brown, a famous American Boxing personality
wrote this one for Muhammad Ali. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” & so on, & so forth. Here’s hoping that our Elanka readers enjoy “Phrases that Please”
Desmond Kelly.
(Editor-in-Chief) eLanka.
SOME TIDBITS OF HISTORICAL INFO JUST FOR INFO (wink)….MANY SEEM STRANGE BUT THEY ARE TRUE!
1. In the 1400s 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 in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled ‘Gentlemen Only…
Ladies Forbidden’… and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
3. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades – King David,
Hearts – Charlemagne,
Clubs -Alexander the Great,
Diamonds – Julius Caesar
4. 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’.
5. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
Mead is a honey liquor and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the HONEYMOON.
6. 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’
7. 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.
8. In 1696, William III of England introduced a property tax that required those living in houses with more than six windows to pay a levy. In order to avoid the tax, house owners would brick up all windows except six. (The Window Tax lasted until 1851, and older houses with bricked-up windows are still a common sight in the U.K.) As the bricked-up windows prevented some rooms from receiving any sunlight, the tax was referred to as “daylight robbery”!
9. In the medieval period, they only had mud flooring. During winter they spread thresh on these floors to avoid mud. To prevent the thresh from spilling out as they walked in and out the doors, they nailed wood planks on the bottom of the doors. Thus THRESHOLD became a word!
10. Also in medieval England, they do not embalm the dead and some cases of dead persons were known to rise from the dead (likely in coma). So when someone died, they laid his body on the table and relatives and friends gather around in vigil for three days with the hope that he will wake up thus the word WAKE.
After three days, they usually placed the body in a coffin to avoid the stench and buried it at least 6 ft below ground. But the dead person had a string tied on a finger at one end and a bell on the other end of the string so that should the person still wake up and finding himself buried, his sudden movements would cause the bell to ring. Thus came the expressions SIX FEET UNDER and SAVED BY THE BELL.
In addition, the family made sure that there would always be someone on the gravesite 24/7 so if and when the bell would ring, someone would immediately dig him up. Thus came about the words GRAVEYARD SHIFT for those who stood watch at night till dawn.
Now, there you have the origin of these phrases…quite interesting!!!(wink2)(wink2)(wink2)
