Author Archive for Now You Know Books

From the Archive: Eeney, meeney, miney, moe

Published
by
Now You Know Books
on May 28, 2008
in From the archive
. 0 Comments

Choices, choices, and more choices! In fact, we’re faced with this dilemma every week when we decide … hmm … what answer should we send out this week? Sign-up for our weekly Q&A! If you have a particular category that you are interested in (i.e. science, literature, history, etc.), let us know!

too many choices by anyjazz65

Photograph by anyjazz65

We’re typically provided with so many choices on a daily basis that we sometimes even ignore quite a few of them around us. Some of us are decisive. Some of us procrastinate. Others try to gather as much information as possible. Perhaps a few even try their luck. What about children? Well, a number of us should remember “eeney, meeney, miney, moe”…

Q: What is the origin of the children’s rhyme “Eeney, meeney, miney, moe”?

A: “Eeney, meeney, miney, moe” is a children’s rhyme where, with each word, the person counting or reciting points at one of a group of players to establish who will be “it.”. The ritual was handed down from the Druids, who used the same counting formula to choose human sacrifices. The precise meanings and origins of the words eeney, meeney, miney and moe are unknown. The theory that the rhyme is from an ancient Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, or Welsh numbering system can’t be proven.

The rhyme was first written down in 1855 along with several other versions, for example, “Hanna, mana, mona, mike.”

Moving Day - The Labatt Commercial

Published
by
Now You Know Books
on May 14, 2008
in Off the Top
. 0 Comments

Did you know that you can find Doug Lennox in recent Labatt commercials aired on television? The author of the Now You Know series is actually “that guy” in this recent commercial from Labatt. Check it out!

Did you know that you can find Doug Lennox in recent Labatt commercials aired on television? The author of the Now You Know series is actually “that guy” in this recent commercial from Labatt. Check it out!

From the Archive: The Meaning Behind “Jam”

Published
by
Now You Know Books
on May 8, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Whether we listen to music, take guitar lessons, attend concerts, or watch performances on television; we sometimes notice someone who will use the expression, “let’s jam” every so often. This week let’s take a look at the meaning behind “jam”, music-wise that is … and perhaps in other senses as well!

Jam Session Photography by Doublep1

Q: Why do jazz musicians call a spontaneous collaboration a “jam”?

A: All musicians refer to an informal and exhilarating musical session as “jamming,” but it first surfaced in the jazz world during the 1920s. “Jam” in jazz is a short, free, improvised passage performed by the whole band. It means pushing or jamming all the players and notes into a defined free-flowing session.

Preserved fruit was first called jam during the 1730s because it was crushed then “jammed” into a jar. To be “in a jam” has the same origin and means to be pressed into a tight or confining predicament.  Jamming radio signals is a term from the First World War and means to force so much extra sound through a defined enemy channel that the original intended message is incoherent. All this is from “jam”, a little seventeenth-century word of unknown origin that meant to press tightly.

From the Archives: The Seven Seas

Published
by
Now You Know Books
on May 2, 2008
in From the archive and Words and Terms
. 1 Comment

Since we’ve all probably had enough of the office and work (unless you’re on vacation already), let’s do a little travelling! Where would you like to go first? Ever given thought of sailing the seven seas?

Q: What are the Seven Seas?

A: “The Seven Seas” is a figurative reference to all the waters of the world. Rudyard Kipling popularized the phrase for modern times as the title of an 1896 volume of poems. He acknowledged that some would interpret the meaning as the seven oceans — the Arctic, the Antarctic, the North and South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian — but the expression circulated long before these oceans even had names. In the ancient world, the seven seas were the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the China Sea, and the East and West African seas.