THE
OLD PHILOSOPHER SEZ, |
I wonder how much of this
information was
obtained with a Government Grant. . .
The Rest of the Story...
1. 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. That's where the phrase, "goodnight, sleep tight" came from.
2. The Main Library at Indiana university sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
3. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
4. There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac bun.
5. The world's termites out weight the worlds' humans 10 to l.
6. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25 miles per year.
7. 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 beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon."
8. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
9. 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.
10. When describing the grade of cotton in the old south, Fair was a very good grade of cotton, Middling was a much better grade of cotton. Hence the response to the question " How are you today?". Fair to Middling.