The movie, Twelve Years a Slave, won the Academy Award for picture of the year. It depicts a true story of the 1841 kidnapping and subsequent slavery of Solomon Northup, a free African American living in Saratoga, New York. The end of the movie does not tell what happened to him after he regained his freedom and […]
DYK: Did you know? Chew the Fat -Today this means to have a long friendly conversation with someone. This idiom has several possible sources as listed below. It is not clear which one is accurate. Sailors, while of resting and conversing would chew on salt-hardened fat. It has been speculated that the phrase may come from […]
PICKLES AND CHOCOLATE by Joyce Ray Wheeler Actually this title sounds a lot like the wild cravings of a pregnant woman ! Instead it refers to the totally unorganized, disconnected bits and pieces this article contains. Allow me to try to clarify. People who know me well are fully aware that I’m a confirmed chocoholic . I […]
DYK: Did you know? In the phrase ‘Above board’ What exactly is the board? The board is a table and comes from gambling activities. APPIP ERROR: amazonproducts[ TooManyRequests|The request was denied due to request throttling. Please verify the number of requests made per second to the Amazon Product Advertising API. ]
*Note: Some of the language below may be a little antiquated because its excerpts and transcriptions from a the book -Transcription from Historic Houses of New Jersey By Weymer Jay Mills .J. B. Lippincott Company – written in 1902 = The original words provide a unique glimpse of the people and early times in New Jersey. Almost […]
DYK: Did you know? The short stick comes from candle making – Candles were expensive to make, so often reeds were dipped in tallow and burned instead. When visitors came, it was the custom for guests to make their exit by the time the lights went out. Therefore, if your host didn’t want you to […]
DYK: Did you know? “Strike while the iron” is a phrase that means to take action immediately in order to have a better chance of success. It comes from the days when blacksmiths lifted iron objects from the furnace and hammered it. They could only hammer the object into shape while the iron was hot, before it […]
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS BY INEZ MCCOLLUM From early days the school has been a gathering place for the community. I remember when my children were in elementary school there were some upcoming court rulings that would adversely affect our neighborhood school. We parents gathered peacefully outside the school after our children were inside for their classes. […]
DYK: Did you know? The saying ‘spic and span’ meant new. A span was a wood shaving. If something was newly built it would have tell-tale wood chips so it was ‘span new’ spick is an old word for a nail. New spicks or nails would be shiny. However words and phrases often change their […]
*Note: Some of the language below may be a little antiquated because its excerpts and transcriptions from a the book -Transcription from Historic Houses of New Jersey By Weymer Jay Mills .J. B. Lippincott Company – written in 1902 = The original words provide a unique glimpse of the people and early times in New […]
