expressions

[Gino]

FW: This is fascinating ....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. 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.

3. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England,
when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell out to mind their own
pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your
P's and Q's.

4. 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.

Here's the best one...

5. In ancient England a person could not have sex unless you had consent of
the King (unless you were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have a
baby, they got the consent of the King and the King gave them a placard that
they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.#.%.K.
on it (Fornication Under Consent of the King). Now you know
where that came from.

[Iain]

And in the finest of old British naval tradition come this.

On the deck of a ship or fort was a brass plate with several indentations in which sat cannon balls, this was called a monkey. These were stacked several high and of course we all know that cannon balls were made of cast iron.
On freezing cold nights the brass plate would contract at a greater rate thatn the cast iron cannon balls and this resulted in the cannon balls rolloing off the monkey, hence the expression, to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.


And....
During the time of the courageous Capt Cook and colleagues sailors were often herad to say 'where the f**k are we?'
On one such voyage during the time of such aforesaid quote two new islands were discovered and the Captain named them, in response to the crews inquisitive minds, North Intercourse Island and South Intercourse Island.
Through time these changed to a more respectable North Course and South Course Island.

[This message has been edited by Iain (edited 21 February 2001).]

[Dave in Cairns]

There are a few theories on where the F word came from. Funny how with all the words that start with F in our language ,we all know what is meant by the F word . Some say it comes from German ; Frichen - to strike. Another one comes from early Aussie convict days when those charged with unlawful carnal knowledge had the tag Fu**er .
Back to expressions though. "You'll have the devil to pay" and "Between the devil and the deep blue sea" Both come from maritime origins. The plank closest to the keel is called the garboard and the seam between it and the keel is called the devil. Probably because it's a pain in the a** to pay (or caulk) when the hull is beached . This seam is also one of the hardest working seams in a timber hull , hence the two expressions.