Monday, December 13, 2010

Sayings say what?

Did you know that "cowlick" became a descriptive term because cows can lick their own heads?

"Getting your goat" is from the belief that a goat in a barn will have a calming effect on the cattle who would then produce more milk.

"Spring Chicken" was because farmers found out chickens born in the spring sold for more than older chickens that had hashed out the winter.

 If you stare at the lobster eyes long enough the plate fixes itself.

"Big Wig" is from the 18th century when the dude wearing the biggest wig was the most important. Ugly custom, but alrighty.

"Pooped" is a sailor term thingy that refers to the poop deck(the stern). Any stern that showed wear and tear from the storms and waves smashing it constantly was called "pooped". Sailors would say they felt as battered and tired as "pooped" as their ship!

When an unwanted guest dropped by at dinner you would give him the "cold shoulder" of mutton instead of the hot, good meat so that he would never come again.

"Wrong end of the stick" came from (they think) Roman times before toilet paper where a sponge was attached to one end of a stick to wipe. Gross much.

"Bite the bullet" is from war days when there was little to no painkiller for injured soldiers and had sometimes all they could offer was a bullet to bite on while doctors did whatever painful thing they had to do.

Stare at the black dot long enough and all the colored ones will disappear.

"Dead Ringer" was started when a slower horse was run around the track before the race for everyone to see and drive up the odds. Come time for the actual race an identical, faster horse was put in. 

"Spinster" was, in the 18th century, a woman who spun wool on a wheel but it was so common for an unmarried, older woman to make money that way that it became a term for older unmarried women.

A "whipping boy" was a boy who got smacked when the crown prince did wrong in the 15th and 16th centuries. But this kid was more a companion for the prince, so it was meant to harm the prince to see someone he cared about getting punished because of him.

Now, as these are internet "facts", take them for what they are and don't hold me to them as 100%. I just writes it like I finds it. And, really, isn't it kind of fun to believe them anyway? I think so.


HERE you'll find the website of a recovering Lazyholic. Definitely check out their 12 step process. Wonderfully fun, brilliant website!


The hubs wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas. Well...what a loaded question. I WANT a new comforter for the bed. I want new PJ pants. I want a pair of expensive shoes. I want my car fixed. I want new tires. I want new brakes. I want a dinning room table instead of the empty VOID in our dinning room. A 50" TV. New cloths. New picture frames. Shoot. I can think of things I want all dang day long. It's easy when you get going.

BUT, I debate telling him all those things. Then...I did the math. And do you know how many books can be bought with the money spent on a new comforter/TV/Cloths or anything else on that list? So instead of all that I just tell him books and movies.(and this is all going on in the span of a minute that my brain has figured all this out)

Apparently my brain doesn't work in money anymore. It converts money into books. Groceries this week cost about 4 new releases. Gas was a new release and a sale book. Get my hair cut for about 3 books and a magazine? Pft. No way!


HERE you'll find a list of gift no one should be given. I was with this list until they mentioned gold pills. Ah... The gift that keeps on giving.

How about a doggy mustache. Add a little class to that pooch. 

Or a bedbug stuffed animal? Cause that is a super cute and snuggly little bit of kid fun.



HERE you can play more optical illusion games. Like we all need ANOTHER time waster, I know I know. But it's fun!

Sorry for the absence this weekend. We had a minor catastrophe. But it's all good! Nothing to get me down for long. But I will be here, full force this week! I can't wait to catch back up with all you guys. I missed you this weekend.

48 comments:

  1. I promise. If I have you over for dinner, I won't give you the cold shoulder! And you'll always be missed when you leave us. Hey, I learned a lot today!

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  2. It's so interesting to learn where certain phrases come from. My hubby really likes stuff like that. I almost got him a phrase book for Christmas.

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  3. So were all those phrases on Yahoo? I saw everything else there, but must of missed those (or they didn't come from Yahoo at all). Anyway, loved the post. I had no idea where any of those phrases came from.

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  4. Of course we missed you. and I stupidly stared at those illusions, minutes of my life I would never gain back.
    You got an award on my blog today :-)

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  5. Gosh I now have Lobster eyes LOL! I love optical illusions and I love the phrase derivations Good you are back.
    BTW You have beautiful eyes :O)

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  6. Those optical illusion things are freaking me out! So crazy what your brain can do. And I never knew that about cold shoulder--I thought it just came from literally turning your back on someone! I hope you're doing ok after the minor catastrophe!

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  7. I'm with you on that wrong end of the stick.. *shudders* ummm...eww! Minor catastrophe? :( Hope everything's all right?

    Love this post! Optical illusions are pretty cool and I totally need the 12 steps of a lazyholic... :)

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  8. I found you from Quinn's blog - I have to agree with you about converting the cost of items to their equivalent in books! Loved all the funny facts too.

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  9. These are great. I should hire you as my own personal reference book :o)

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  10. Interesting definitions!
    And I tend to think of money in terms of new Cds and DVDs.

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  11. hahahaha... I just did the book/money thing the other day! My honey's mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas and then it popped into my head all the books I could get in place of the other things I had in my mind. Like hmmm.. I could get 5 books from my want list in place of that blender I originally asked for...

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  12. I've used nearly all of these sayings before, and I've never knew what they meant. :P

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  13. Sorry you had a rough weekend. THose are great word origins tho! I enjoyed reading them. THings like that always interest me. :)

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  14. Books is a nice Christmas gift. That's all I wish too (as far as we're speaking of stuff you can buy in shops).

    Hope you recovered after your catastrophe >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  15. I love word origins. So fun. Congrats on your award from Joanna and I too, can't believe she hasn't read Harry Potter.

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  16. I had no idea that's what some of those phrases came from--interesting!

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  17. Biting the bullet...hmm...I want to do that.

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  18. OHMYGAWSH! these are great! i know a few people i'd like to give the cold shoulder to!

    my great, great grandmother was the playmate to a polish princess - i really hope she wasn't a whipping girl!

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  19. Love all these explanations for common sayings! I believe them- much better explanations than I would have been able to do.

    I tend to compare what I would spend on clothes for my daughter- like I look at a top for me, and I'm like- I can get 3 tops for her for that price. So I buy 3 tops for her instead.

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  20. You have the most entertaining tidbits on your blog. Keep 'em coming!

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  21. I love those kind of tidbits and usually I can't get eye illusions to work, but the dots did disappear.

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  22. Ok, that was WAAAYY too much fun! Doggie mustache? That's hilarious! I wonder if they make one for my cat...

    Hope the minor catastrophe is all fixed up!

    Cheers!
    Jen

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  23. We use phrases like these everyday without a thought. Catchphrases of the ages. Nice to know what some of them mean. Thanks :)
    The enigmatic, masked blogger

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  24. Learn something new every day, right? So I'm good for the next week! Also I am a total lazyholic, so thanks for the website link :) I'm stuck at step 7: turn off the tv. lol!

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  25. I love learning how these sayings came to be! I love stuff like this so thanks for sharing!!! You are awesome!

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  26. I love those explainers! I find these little facts so fun, though my favorite is still a 'dork'--kids whose mothers had to work so they had a door key... they were dorks... I was a dork and I identify with the other kind, too, so it makes me warm and fuzzy.

    That list of unwanted gifts is a crack up.

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  27. Angela, That is awesome! I'm so glad I'm not alone. Books are more fun than a blender anyway.

    Amie, That is so awesome!!!!!! I think boys were just the bad ones.

    Phyllis, Glad you liked!!

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  28. Fun stuff! That is so awesome about the cow lick, btw. My mom said I had a cowlick, but my stylist says it's a "growth pattern."

    snooty... ;p <3

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  29. I was staring at the lobster picture for ages yesterday, and that plate just would NOT fix itself. Today, same thing! What's wrong with me?

    I'm glad you've recovered from whatever the minor catastrophe was!

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  30. Wow, this is really cool stuff. The term whipping boy makes sense, though sucks to be him. ;)

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  31. This was fantastic! I loved the random facts and the illusions! I want more! How fun!!! The lobster one was a little difficult for me and I think I only saw it fix half the plate... stupid lobster!

    Jen/Jules
    Unedited & Jules and the Stars

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  32. I love using books as a unit of measurement :) I always ask for books/book gift cards for Christmas, too. I tried to get as much as I can from the library, but sometimes I just have to have my hot little hands on something now.

    I just splurged on Matched and The DUFF and they were totally worth it!

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  33. I remember the whipping boy from a Disney movie. I always thought that was soooooo wrong. It won't happen in my future whips that deal with royal kids I can tell you.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, fantasy author

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  34. Oh man, these origins of phrases are great! I always wonder where the heck they came from.

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  35. Okay, that plate thing freaked me out! Sorry to hear you had a catastrophe. Hope everything is okay.

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  36. I love optical illusions! Thanks for the link. XD

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  37. I totally think in book currency as well! Nice to know I'm not alone :-)

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  38. Holy cow, Colene! There is so much good stuff here. I love the catch phrases--too fun. I love the way you do math in books!!! And the linkage...too awesome! :-)

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  39. Love this!! For some reason, I find the whipping boy thing really amusing... I mean totally uncool for the whipping boy, but why not just spank that royal ass? Okay, that came out sounding weird. *snickers* And the book currency is awesome.

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  40. Great post! Thanks for the follow. I'm following you back. I never knew where any of these sayings came from but it's interesting to know. I love springing some of these useful facts into conversation with the hubby. He loves it.

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  41. Awesome post! Admittedly the only saying from above that I really knew about was "bite the bullet." Love learning new things! <3

    And I'm totally with you on books as currency! D: Although on occasion I also measure in purses or shoes. >.< '

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  42. They can lick their own HEADS? Next time I'm at our farm, I'm going to freak the cows out by staring at them until they comply. Awesome!

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  43. Nice list of expressions :) I've wondered for most of them why they are called so, so thanks for giving us the answers :)

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  44. Tee hee, what a fun post! You had me staring at the illusions for ages :)

    Hope all is ok, hugs.

    Rach

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