Historical Trivia!
 

HISTORICAL TRIVIA

Did you know?

In George Washington's days, one's image was
either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed
him standing
behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both
legs
and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many
people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted.
Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer
more. Hence the _expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

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As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year!
(May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their
heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford
good wigs made from wool. The wigs couldn't be washed, so to clean them
they could carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake
it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the
term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig"
because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

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In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one
chair. Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall and
used or dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair
while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while, a guest
(who was almost always a man) would be invited to sit in this chair
during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in
charge. Sitting in the chair, one was called the "chair man." Today in
business we use the _expression or title "Chairman" or "Chairman of the
Board."

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Needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a
result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The
women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their
complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to
stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax."
Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a
smile." Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt
and therefore the _expression "losing face."

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Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied
lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady as in "straight laced."

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Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax
levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "Ace of
Spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards
instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were
thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full
deck."

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Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what
was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones,
TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns,
pubs, and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's
conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at
different times. "You go sip here" and "You go sip there." The two
words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local
opinion and, thus we have the term "gossip."

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At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized
containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and
keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who
was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts," hence the term
"minding your "P's and Q's."

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One more:

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters
carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It
was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon, but how to prevent
them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a
square based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on
nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could
be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one
problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from
under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with
16 round indentations. But, if this plate were made of iron, the
ironballs would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem
was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass
contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.
Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass
indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come
right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to
freeze the balls off a brass monkey." (And all this time, you thought
that was an improper _expression, didn't you?)

I've read these before...but still always interesting!

Bathing only twice a year? Ewwwwwww! I could go on and on about that one...um...but I won't! LOL!

Some good stuff there, but I thought

a. With wigs often made of horse hair, due to the shortage of blonde horses,
wigs were expensive and the bigger (and dearer) the wig, the
richer and more powerful the wearer.

b. The "man" in Chairman came from the Latin "manere" to hold.

c. Losing (or gaining) face is an expression from the Orient.

Damn, another research session.

These were all fun to read but I would bet that not one of them are true.

I thought the same thing abut losing face, OF.

Aqua---I don't know,what is True/False!These are from an e-mail,
that my uncle,in Conn.,sent to me.I put it on here because I
thought that everyone,would enjoy it.At least we know that if,
Sharni,is done,measuring the hanger,from the True or False? thread,that now she will have something to research! Irish

I definitely enjoyed them Irish!

very informative. now that i've had my daily dose of book learnin', can i go smut around?:D

I'd like to stay around and talk some more, but it is May.....Time for my first of two yearly baths.......

From the US Navy's Naval Historical Center Website...

The first recorded use of the term "brass monkey" appears to dates to 1857 when it was used in an apparently vulgar context by C.A. Abbey in his book Before the Mast, where on page 108 it says "It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey." [Source: Lighter, J.E. ed. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. (New York: Random House, 1994): 262.]

It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey." This explanation appears to be a legend of the sea without historical justification. In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun crew. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C. Nepean. The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981): 64. A top view of shot garlands on the upper deck of a ship-of-the-line is depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991): 17.

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