Did You Know? THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW- Comes from Matthew 7:14. In the King James version of the Bible, published in 1611, he says: ‘Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth to life’. The old English word strait meant tight or narrow but when it went out of use the phrase […]
DYK: Did you know? Translated from the old Spanish phrase “sangre azul”, blue blood derives from the Medieval belief in Europe (among other places) that the blood of the royalty and nobility was blue. Since the royal family and aristocrats were wealthy and powerful enough to pay commoners to labor in the fields for […]
The bitter end’ means the very end and comes from a nautical term. Anchor cable was wrapped around posts called bitts. The bitt end (or bitter end) refers to the final part of the anchor rope near to where the rope is fixed to the ship’s deck. Usually marked with coloured rags, the bitter end […]
DYK: Did you know? The fashion for wigs began with the Bourbon kings of France. Louis XIII (1601 – 1643) went prematurely bald and took to wearing a wig. By the middle of the century, and especially during the reign of Louis XIV. The Sun King, wigs were virtually obligatory for all European nobility and […]
LILY LIVERED – Means cowardly. People once believed that your passions came from you liver. If you were lily livered your liver was white (because it did not contain any blood). So you were a coward. The ancient Greeks used to sacrifice an animal before battle. The liver was regarded as a prime omen – if […]
Did You Know? CHARLEY HORSE: The origin of these phrase is uncertain. In America it dates from a persistent story that the original Charley was a lame horse of that name that pulled the roller at the White Sox ballpark in Chicago near the end of last century. Another origin is: In 1640, Charles I of England expanded the […]
All I Needed to Know About Life I learned from Santa Encourage people to believe in you. Always remember who’s naughty and who’s nice. Don’t pout. It’s as much fun to give as it is to receive. Some days it’s ok to feel a little chubby. Make your presents known. Always ask for a little […]
SOME CHRISTMAS TREE FACTS During the years from 1887 to 1933, a fishing schooner called the ‘Christmas Ship’ used to sell spruce trees from Michigan to Chicagoans. Evergreen trees were used to celebrate the onset of winter, even before the birth of Christ. Christmas tree was decorated for the first time in Riga (Latvia), in […]
In olden days, women used beeswax on their faces to give them the “white look.” They mixed the beeswax with a lead compound. In order to keep their faces from melting in the hot sun, they carried a gauze mask to put over their makeup to “Save Face” In front of the fire place, they […]
Did You Know? ESCAPED BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH – The expression is a Hebrew one that first appeared in this form in the Geneva Bible (1560). In Job 19:20, it reads: My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. This was a […]
