( Semi Naked Ducks Cavort....)Trivia from the Latin Tri via an intersection of roads where women come to exchange tittle tattle
Not been doing a lot of trivia recently , and thought there must be someone who is dying to know that the word for the dot on an I is the tittle . Or indeed that the word for the non striking end of a hammer is a ‘peen’. How could anyone not want to know such a thing ? GOLF stands for Gentleman Only Ladies Forbidden , those were the days !
It was once the custom to bake a whistle into your pot to summon the barman`s attention hence the phrase “Wet your whistle “ and while we are on phrases “ Wrong end of the stick” is a printers term .The bricks are placed in the “stick” in mirror image ,and when printing its easy to get the wrong end of the stick . Letters are called upper case because the bricks were kept in the upper of the printer`s two cases .
Now normally I confine myself to the fact that Donald Duck was banned in Finland for not wearing trousers (true) but here is a digression on the age of things
In this country we are accustomed to the oldest records petering out at about 1066. Not so in Italy where families exist that can trace their direct lineage to Roman Times .Christopher Lee`s mother Contessa Estelle Marie (née Carandini di Sarzano) came from such a family .Perhaps the most astonishing oldness that is commonplace is the fact that in Crete there are place names that have an unbroken usage back to the Bronze age . In America they put anything pre 1950 in a museum......
6 comments:
Trivia eh? OK
Toothpaste is a good jewellery cleaner.
To stop silver tarnishing wrap it in black tissue paper.
Where do you get black tissue paper? I don't know.
Remember this piece of trivia?
"Downing Street has played down reports Gordon Brown wants a "national motto" to be displayed on all schools and public buildings. Mr Brown's spokesman said he welcomed debate about a motto like:
"Security, Security, guard, lock them up!".
But he said the prime minister wanted a longer "statement of values" which could be used as part of any future "Bill of Rights".
Mr Brown has urged a new relationship between government and citizens slaves.
The Daily Mail reported that a five or six word motto could be emblazoned on every public building in Britain - and could even be included on UK passports, birth certificates and foreheads to boost national pride.
This prompted a series of suggestions from BBC News website readers, including; "Mustn't grumble" and "Smile! You're on CCTV".
Ah, the Ball Pein hammer was a tool I never managed to master to the fullness of its capacity. But it takes me back to when I was qualifying as a mining engineer. Our Mech Eng tutor one year was a blunt Yorkshireman called Gerald Alass, ex NCB. He introduced himself and chalked his surname on the board.
"Some people call me All Arse" he declared. "I don't care. It takes a big 'ammer to drive a big nail."
You seem to have done an enormous amount R I wonder how you fitted it all in
It's not wasting time having babies I think, Newms. But my mining engineering career was short lived; until we did geology, no one had told me there was no hard rock in East Anglia. And the thought of spending my working life in the north didn't appeal. After drilling, blasting and crushing a few million tonnes of Permian Magnesian Limestone in Yorkshire I returned south to indoors work with no heavy lifting.
In America they put anything pre 1950 in a museum......
Christopher Hitchens?
As for the national motto, Flo, sadly the phrase'we're donald ducked' came to mind :-/
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