Did you know...

[kai28]

... where Upper Case and Lower Case terms originated?

In the time and age of linotype hot lead composing machines there used to be an urn of molten lead connected to the back of the composing machine. To compose each line of text the compositor would press the key and a type mould would roll on to a horizontal scale and the molten lead would be poured into it and would solidify into a line of text. These lines were then arranged in a “galley” to be printed. That is the beginning of the term “galley proof.”

There used to be two cases placed above the compositor. One case contained the capitals letters, which occupied the upper position so it is the "upper case" and one case contained the ordinary type so it is the "lower case." So the compositor had to press a lever to change from one case to the other.

Source: http://caferati.blogspot.com/2004/10/upper-case-and-lower-case-origin-of.html#109807733597337541

Many of us are using a term but really didn't know where it came from.

From one of my calls: I gave the customer a web address. He asked if it's all lower case or upper case -- told him all in lower case. He asked me if I knew the origin of the term since I was using it. Told him honestly that I don't. So he told me about the same story as stated above. I'm just glad I spoke to this customer. :bounce:

If you want to share some "Did you know" trivias, you may post it under this thread.

Thanks.:cheers:

[ctivnan]

Very good info! :thankyou:

This is such a brilliant idea, Kai!

[tcha]

yeah... I learned something today kai...

[tcha]

....:clover:

[tcha]

... where Upper Case and Lower Case terms originated?

In the time and age of linotype hot lead composing machines there used to be an urn of molten lead connected to the back of the composing machine. To compose each line of text the compositor would press the key and a type mould would roll on to a horizontal scale and the molten lead would be poured into it and would solidify into a line of text. These lines were then arranged in a “galley” to be printed. That is the beginning of the term “galley proof.”

There used to be two cases placed above the compositor. One case contained the capitals letters, which occupied the upper position so it is the "upper case" and one case contained the ordinary type so it is the "lower case." So the compositor had to press a lever to change from one case to the other.

Source: http://caferati.blogspot.com/2004/10/upper-case-and-lower-case-origin-of.html#109807733597337541

Many of us are using a term but really didn't know where it came from.

From one of my calls: I gave the customer a web address. He asked if it's all lower case or upper case -- told him all in lower case. He asked me if I knew the origin of the term since I was using it. Told him honestly that I don't. So he told me about the same story as stated above. I'm just glad I spoke to this customer. :bounce:

If you want to share some "Did you know" trivias, you may post it under this thread.

Thanks.:cheers:

^^^this is nice, I like it...

[tcha]

The phrase "raining cats and dogs" originated in 17th Century England. During heavy downpours of rain, many of these poor animals unfortunately drowned and their bodies would be seen floating in the rain torrents that raced through the streets. The situation gave the appearance that it had literally rained "cats and dogs" and led to the current expression.
^^^corsinet.com

[euqinimod]

:c_o_o_l:

i love it!!!


here's mine.. :itshere:

Bizarre was borrowed into English from French in the middle of the 17th century. The current sense of odd or fantastic has been with us since the word was introduced into English. It had that meaning in French as well, although previously in French it had the meaning of brave or like a soldier.

Where the French picked up the word is somewhat unclear. In Spanish and Portugeuse, bizarro means handsome or brave and is clearly related to the French in some way, although the French word appears before the Spanish one, so it is unlikely that the French picked up the word from Spanish. Instead, it probably comes from Italian, where bizzarro means angry, and has a root, bizza, meaning fit of anger.

There is a commonly touted etymology for bizarre that claims the word is originally from the Basque bizzarra, meaning beard. This explanation is not well supported by evidence.

Bizarre is unrelated to bazaar, which is from the Persian bazar, meaning marketplace.

(Sources: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition; Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories)

[euqinimod]

:itshere::Fish Smiley 6068:

more..

Superstition against wishing an actor Good Luck! has led to the adoption of this phrase in its place. The date of origin is a bit obscure; as theatrical slang it existed long before it was ever documented in print, but the intent of the phrase is clear. It is simply a way of warding off a jinx. It being bad luck to speak of a positive performance, one instead speaks of a bad one.

Based on the recollections of actors, break a leg is commonly thought to date to the 1930s. Some claim a British origin, but the earliest citations are all American.1 The earliest actual appearance in print that anyone has found is from 1957, from the 29 May Associated Press wire service story about a dancer who literally broke her leg during a performance:

In the theater, they say “break a leg” to an actor just before he goes on stage, but it really means “good luck.”2

Then there is is interesting citation from the 18 June 1954 News of Frederick, Maryland:

If old theater sayings are any indication of success, there’s a great many “breaks” in store for the Mountain Theater [...] Among the many sayings for “good luck,” you can hear actors whisper “neck and leg break” to each other as the footlights dim and the curtain rises each opening night. Although “neck and leg break” sounds more like a call for a wrestling arena, theatrically it means, “good luck.”3

This article is interesting in that it suggests a connection with the German phrase Hals und Beinbruch, which is an invitation to break one’s neck and leg or to break one’s neck and bone, depending on how one translates it.4 The similarity with the German phrase is striking and given that the tortured construction of the phrase in the newspaper article, the German is probably the source. Also worth noting is that, unlike the 1957 story, the article does not mention the phrase break a leg, even though the article details how the director of the show literally broke his leg during a rehearsal.

Whether or not the German is the origin for break a leg, though, is still not clear though. If break a leg does indeed date to the 1930s, this 1954 article may not be pointing out the origin. The possibility that both languages developed similar phrases is plausible (Japanese has a similar phrase as well) given that the superstition of the jinx is common around the world. Still it seems likely that the German phrase at least influenced the English, if it is not the origin.

There are several false etymologies for the phrase break a leg. One is that the phrase stems from the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth, the actor turned assassin, leaped to the stage of Ford’s Theater after the murder, breaking his leg in the process. The logical connection with good luck is none too clear, but such is folklore. But unfortunately for this great story, there is no evidence to suggest that this is the origin of the phrase or even that the phrase dates to the 19th century.

There are various other false explanations. One is that it refers to bending the leg during a curtain call. Another is a reference to the curtains pulls that were allegedly called legs, the opening and closing of the curtains during numerous curtain calls could result in the curtain pulls breaking, or so one might wish. As inventive as these explanations are, the origin is in simple superstition.



1New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, v. I & II, edited by Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2006), 259-60.

2”Nobody Said ‘Break Leg’--So Actress Does It,” Union-Bulletin (Walla Walla, WA), 29 May 1957, Evening, 7.

3”Director is Hurt During Rehearsal,” News (Frederick, MD), 18 June 1954, 4.

4Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Catch Phrases, edited by Paul Beale, Revised and Updated Edition, 1985 (Lanham, MD: Scarborough House, 1992), 37-38.

*Dave Wilton

[euqinimod]

:rythm:

doughnut--


Any number of people have inquired about the origin of the name of this pastry. The dough part is easy enough, but why nut?

The term doughnut is first attested to 1809 in Washington Irving’s Knickerbocker’s History of New York. But Irving does not refer to the toroidal confection that we know today. Instead, what he describes are small balls of fried dough, what we would today call doughnut holes:

An enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks.

The nut comes from the size and shape of these balls, literally nut-like objects made out of dough.

Thoreau references oblong-shaped doughnuts, what we might today call a cruller, in an 1847 Atlantic Monthly article:

The window was...the size of an oblong doughnut, and about as opaque.

Apparently, the familiar toroidal shape did not become standard until the 20th century.

Some wags have claimed original spelling was "doughnought," referring to the hole in the middle. This is simply not true.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

*Dave Wilton

>wordorigins.org

[euqinimod]

honeymoon

Honeymoon was originally a reference to the first month of a marriage. The honey represents the sweetness of new love and the moon signifies the changing relationship and that this love will quickly wane. The word first appears in John Heywood’s 1546 A Dialogue Conteinyng The Nomber In Effect Of All The Prouerbes In The Englishe Tongue:

It was yet but hony moone.

Richard Huloet’s 1552 Abcedarium Anglico Latinum described it as:

Hony mone, a terme prouerbially applied to such as be newe maried, whiche wyll not fall out at the fyrste, but thone loueth the other at the beginnynge excedyngly, the likelyhode of theyr exceadynge loue appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people cal the hony mone, Aphrodisia, feriæ, hymenæ.

The verb, meaning to take a honeymoon trip, is more recent, dating to the early 19th century. From an 1821 letter by Mary R. Mitford appearing in Alfred G. L’Estrange’s The Life of M.R. Mitford:

How did I know but you were tourifying or honeymooning?

There is a story floating around the internet that honeymoon derives from the Babylonian practice of a new father-in-law giving mead, or honey beer, to his new son-in-law for the first month of their marriage. This is utter bunk.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

*Dave Wilton:inlove:

[euqinimod]

JAYWALK

This term for crossing the street in the middle of the block is U.S. slang dating to the early years of the 20th century. It comes from the sense of jay meaning a stupid person, a rube.

The earliest known use has the term in a slightly different sense, that of someone who is walking aimlessly. From the Washington Post on 7 May 1911:

Kansas City used to consider itself a town of jay walkers. That is another line in which New York deserves the discredit of being at the front of the procession. A typical Manhattan would be run over and trampled on the sidewalk if he tried to walk on State street in Chicago as he walks on Broadway, New York. He has never heard of the prehistoric principle of keeping to the right—he ambles all over the sidewalk.

This may be an isolated use, for the next earliest citation is in the sense we’re all familiar with. From the Atlanta Constitution, 27 August 1912:

Well, Bo, “Jay Walkers” are persons who cut across corners—dash across the streets cat-a-cornered—who have not the time to walk along the sidewalk to the proper crossing.

And the next day, the Times ran an article in response which gives an indication of the origin:

More than a little sympathy will be felt for the correspondent who expressed resentment yesterday at the official application of the word “jaywalkers"—a truly shocking name and highly opprobrious—to people who cross the city streets in the middle of the blocks instead of at their ends.

That may be a bringing of rustic habit into the city, and, on general principles, that is not to be commended, since it usually indicates indifference to the unlikeness of rural and urban conditions. But a proceeding is not necessarily “jay” because it is a country custom, and, as a matter of fact, city folk can give, and some of them do, a reason more than fairly good for crossing the streets where the police say they should not.

[...]

That being the case, if much more is heard about “jaywalking,” some bold person may suggest a law, not forbidding but commanding, for all the practice thus disrespectfully described.

The slang term jay, meaning a stupid person, is originally British and is a reference to the bird, which is famed for not being the brightest of creatures. From the Pall Mall Gazette of 19 December 1884:

The intending larcenist will strike up a conversation with a likely looking Jay in a public conveyance...and win his friendship.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition; Proquest Historical Newspapers)


>wordorigins.org
>Dave Wilton

:happy0007::wave:

[ctivnan]

Wow! That's a lot of info!
Keep it coming! :yey:
:thanks: very much!

[euqinimod]

Big apple

This name for New York City was originally horse-racing slang that made its way into the vernacular. The metaphor is that New York City is a succulent and sweet prize to be had for those who are successful in racing or any field of endeavor.

Big apple was commonly used in the late-19th century to refer to the winnings of a wager. This use appears as early as the August 1847 issue of The American Farmer:

Try it once and we’ll bet you a big apple that you do it every year thereafter for the balance of your life.

The term used in reference to New York City first appears in the writings of sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald, who wrote for the New York Morning Telegraph. Fitz Gerald first used the term in a column on 3 May 1921:

J. P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L. T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for “the big apple” to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace.

The jump from wagering in general to horse racing in particular is unsurprising.

Fitz Gerald never claimed to have coined the Big Apple. Instead, he consistently gave the credit to an African-American stable hand he overheard in New Orleans in January 1920. Fitz Gerald first told the tale in an 18 February 1924 column:

The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There’s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.
Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the “cooling rings” of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation.
“Where y’all goin’ from here?” queried one.
“From here we’re headin’ for The Big Apple,” proudly replied the other.
“Well, you’d better fatten up them skinners or all you’ll get from the apple will be the core,” was the quick rejoinder.

By the late 1920s, the term had been adopted by New Yorkers in general and used to refer to the city as a whole, not just the New York racing circuit. A tourism advertising campaign in the 1970s that used the term as a theme reinvigorated usage and brought the name to the attention of millions who had not otherwise heard it.

There is a single 1909 use of big apple in reference to New York City, but this is apparently a unique use of a fruit metaphor and is unrelated to the later uses. It appears in Edward Martin’s Wayfarer in New York and in context is a reference to New York City:

New York is merely one of the fruits of that great tree whose roots go down in the Mississippi Valley, and whose branches spread from one ocean to the other, but the tree has no great degree of affection for its fruit. It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.

There are numerous false etymologies given for the Big Apple. One is that it was coined by writer Damon Runyon. It certainly sounds like something Runyon would have coined, but no one has found the phrase in any of his writings. Another claims that it arose in jazz slang. Jazz musicians certainly did use the term and there was a famous Harlem jazz club called The Big Apple, but these uses all postdate the horse racing citations.

Perhaps the most famous and persistent of the false etymologies is that the Big Apple refers to New York prostitution in the 19th century and is a metaphor for Eve’s apple. There is absolutely no evidence to support this.

(Source: www.barrypopik.com)

>>D.W.

[euqinimod]

widow..

widow
Dave Wilton, Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Widow dates back to Old English. The OED2’s earliest citation is from before 825 in the Vespasian Psalter:

Sien bearn his asteapte & wif his widwe.
(Orphaned is his son & his wife a widow.)

The verb form appears in the Middle English period. From the 14th century Northumbrian poem Cursor Mundi:

Ik am nu widuit of mi spus.
(I am now widowed of my spouse.)

The Old English widewe is cognate with many words in various Indo-European languages. The Indo-European root *widh means to separate, to be empty. This root is also, via Latin, the source of the word divide. Cognates meaning widow are the Latin Vidua, French veuve, Italian vedova, Spanish viuda, the Russian and Czech vdova, the Welsh gweddr, the German witwe, the Dutch weduwe, and the Sanskrit vidhavā.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

>D.W.
>wordorigins.org

[euqinimod]

Wow! That's a lot of info!
Keep it coming! :yey:
:thanks: very much!


you're welcome.. :wave:

[euqinimod]

Red tape

Red tape is excessive bureaucracy or rigid adherence to bureaucratic rules and regulations. But why tape? And why is it red?

It is tradition, dating back to the 18th century, to bind government documents together using a red ribbon or tape. There is no particular reason for choosing the color red; it’s just an arbitrary choice. From Maryland Laws, written between 1696 and 1715:

The Map...upon the Backside thereof sealed with his Excellency’s Seal at Arms on a Red Cross with Red Tape.

And we start to see metaphorical use by 1736 in John Hervey’s Poetical Epistle to the Queen:

Let Wilmington, with grave, contracted brow, Red tape and wisdom at the Council show.

The association between red tape and bureaucracy was firmly established by the 19th century. From Catherine Gore’s 1837 Stokeshill Place:

My dear, you mistake John Barnsley...Dearly as he loves a bit of red tape, you never saw him try to inspire any other man with the love of business.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

>>wordorigins.org :approve:

[euqinimod]

Science..

All mammals that lay eggs are placed in the group (Order) called Monotremata. The members of this Order (monotremes) are found only in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Monotremes have eggs with a flexible, sticky, leatherlike shell. The eggs are incubated and hatched outside the body of the mother. There are only three living monotremes, the duck-billed platypus and two species of echidna, or 'spiny anteaters'. Monotremes are not a very diverse group today, and there has not been much fossil information known until rather recently.

In some ways, monotremes are very primitive for mammals because, like reptiles and birds, they lay eggs rather than having live birth. In a number of other respects, monotremes are rather derived, having highly modified snouts or beaks, and modern adult monotremes have no teeth. Like other mammals, however, monotremes have a single bone in their lower jaw, three inner ear bones, high metabolic rates, hair, and they produce milk to nourish the young.

http://www.vmnh.org/Egg%20Laying%20Mammals2.htm
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/mammal.html

>>www.funtrivia.com

:drummer:

[aliyanah]

quite interesting :)

[kamagra]

Honeymoon was originally a reference to the first month of a marriage. The honey represents the sweetness of new love and the moon signifies the changing relationship and that this love will quickly wane. The word first appears in John Heywood’s 1546 A Dialogue Conteinyng The Nomber In Effect Of All The Prouerbes In The Englishe Tongue: