Historical trivia

[Judy Harder]

True or False Here It Is!!

Did you know the saying "God willing and the Creeks don't rise" was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water?  It was written by Benjamin Hawkins in the late 18th century.  He was a politician and Indian diplomat.  While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington.  In his response, he was said to write, "God willing and the Creeks don't rise."  Because he capitalized the word "Creeks" it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.
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In George Washington's days, there were no cameras.  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.'  (Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint)
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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.  They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would 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 1700's,  many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair.  Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining.  The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor.  Occasionally a guest, who was usually 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.  They called the one sitting in  the chair the 'chair man.'  Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of  the Board.'
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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.'  In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt, therefore, the expression 'losing face.'
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Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front.  A proper and dignified woman, as in 'straight laced' wore a tightly tied lace.
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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 the people considered important.  Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars.  They 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 phrase 'minding your 'P's and Q's'.
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One more: bet you didn't know this!
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.  However, 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.  However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls 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.'  (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.)

If you don't send this fabulous bit of historic knowledge to any and all your unsuspecting friends, your floppy is going to fall off your hard drive and kill your mouse.


Now friends I couldn't let this happen, so I am sharing...........and NO, I did not look these facts up. You can if you want. Just got a giggle our of them, and I think a few months ago, some of us were asking each other where these sayings came from...LOL Judy
 

[Judy Harder]

Fun Facts!!!!


                                              A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON HERE

ABOUT RAILROAD TRACKS


Railroad tracks.

The   US  standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.


Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates designed the   US  railroads.


Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.


Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.


Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in   England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial   Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including   England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.


And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.

Since the chariots were made for Imperial   Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?' , you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in  Utah


The
engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.



So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... andCURRENT Horses Asses in Washington are controlling everything else . . . . . . . . . .