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The Origin of “bite the dust”

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on June 13, 2008
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photo by alaskan dude

Photograph by Alaskan Dude

Q:  Where did the expression “bite the dust” come from?

A:  We probably all heard “bite the dust” for the first time while watching an old Western B movie when a cowboy hero does away with a pesky varmint to impress the schoolmarm.  The phrase was first used in English literature in 1750 to imply wounding or killing by satirical novelist Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) in Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, his translation of the original French novel by Alain-Rene Lesage: “We made two of them bite the dust and the others betake themselves to flight.”  The inspiration for the expression can be traced back to the Bible in Psalm 72: “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust.”

From the archive: Piping Hot!

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Almost everyone loves piping hot soup — which got us to thinking about the whole expression…

hot soup by Szeto Clan

Photograph by Szeto Clan

Q: Why do we describe warm food as “piping hot”?

A: Today, piping hot usually means comfortably warm food straight from your own oven to the table, but it took a few centuries to evolve into that meaning. There was a time when everyone bought freshly baked bread every day from a neighbourhood or village baker. When the bread was ready, the baker would signal from his front door by blowing on a pipe or horn, which caused people to hurry to get bread before it ran out and gave us the expression “piping hot.”

Why is a commercial record player called a “jukebox”?

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on June 9, 2008
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jukebox

Photo by modomatic

Jukeboxes first appeared in restaurants and bars in the late 1930s. Juke is an African word meaning “to make wicked mischief” and came directly from American slaves, who described the illegal brothels or bootlegger shacks where they could occasionally escape their cruel lives with a jar of moonshine as “juke-joints.” Juke had an exotic and forbidden appeal, which inspired the name jukebox.

Why do Conservatives call Liberals “bleeding hearts”?

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on June 9, 2008
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The ultra-conservative view of those who propose extending the welfare state is that they are “bleeding hearts.” That expression entered politics in the 1930s and by the 1990s “my heart bleeds for you” had become a general put-down. It comes from the Middle Ages, when a social conscious group known as the Order of the Bleeding Heart was formed to honour the Virgin Mary, whose “heart was pierced with many sorrows.”

Democrats Republican

Images from Mike Licht, NotionCapital.com

Why is a long drinking spree called a “bender”?

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on June 4, 2008
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A “bender” is a prolonged, irresponsible, and dangerous bout of drinking, which took its name from the patrons of London, England alehouses during the 1850s. To promote drinking, it was common for a tavern to offer patrons all they could drink for a tuppence a day, so sixpence was good for three days. The six pence coin, which was worth about a quarter, was nicknamed a “bender” because if it wasn’t phony it could be easily bent. Since this bendable coin guaranteed three days of libation, the subsequent binge became known as a bender.

From the Archive: Spilling the Beans

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on June 4, 2008
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Ever wonder about the political issues that seem to be on the front page of the news almost everyday? Let’s dive into the realm of politics and take a look at some history.

Q: Why when someone tells a secret do we say they’ve “spilled the beans”?

A: As a system of voting, the ancient Greeks placed beans in a jar. These small beans or balls were called “ballota”, which gives us the word ballot. A white bean was a “yes” and a brown bean was a “no.” The beans were then counted in secret so the candidates wouldn’t know who voted for or against them. If the container was knocked over, and the beans were spilled, the secret was out of the jar.

beans ... jelly beans

Not yet spilled beans?  Photograph by al-hayat

Why do Humans Kiss?

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on May 30, 2008
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The average person spends two weeks kissing during his or her lifetime. The romantic or erotic kiss is a sensual genetic memory search for compatibility, whether on the lips or elsewhere, and is revealed to the brain through smell and taste. Kissing originated from prehistoric mothers breast-feeding, then chewing and pushing food into their infants’ mouths with their tongues. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) described the kiss as “an unconscious repetition of infantile delight in feeding.”

Kiss by David Chief

Photograph by David Chief

Smell is the primary ingredient of the kissing ritual for some cultures, such as the Inuit, who believe that exhaled breath reveals a person’s soul. Exchanging breath in this sense is a spiritual union. This concept has parallel in Christian dogma (Genesis 2:7), which reveals that God infused the spirit of life into his creatures by breathing into them.

[Excerpt taken from Now You Know - The Big Book of Answers by Doug Lennox]

From the Archive: Eeney, meeney, miney, moe

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on May 28, 2008
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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

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on May 14, 2008
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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”

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on May 8, 2008
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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.