And now you know…


Those pesky little questions one often wonders about…


Q: Why do men’s clothes have buttons on the right while women’s clothes have buttons on the left?
A: When buttons were invented, they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich. Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left. Because wealthy women were dressed by maids, dressmakers put the buttons on the maid’s right! And that’s where women’s buttons have remained since.


Q: Why do ships and aircraft use ‘mayday’ as their call for help?
A: This comes from the French word m’aidez -meaning ‘help me’ – and is pronounced, approximately, ‘mayday’.


Q: Why are zero scores in tennis called ‘love’?
A: In France, where tennis became popular, the round zero on the scoreboard looked like an egg and was called ‘l’oeuf,’ which is French for ‘the egg’. When tennis was introduced in the US, Americans (mis)pronounced it ‘love’.


Q. Why do X’s at the end of a letter signify kisses?
A: In the Middle Ages, when many people were unable to read or write, documents were often signed using an X. Kissing the X represented an oath to fulfil obligations specified in the document. The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous.


Q: Why is shifting responsibility to someone else called ‘passing the buck’?
A: In card games, it was once customary to pass an item, called a buck, from player to player to indicate whose turn it was to deal. If a player did not wish to assume the responsibility of dealing, he would ‘pass the buck’ to the next player.


Q: Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast?
A: It used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering him a poisoned drink. To prove to a guest that a drink was safe, it became customary for a guest to pour a small amount of his drink into the glass of the host. Both men would drink it simultaneously. When a guest trusted his host, he would only touch or clink the host’s glass with his own.


Q: Why are people in the public eye said to be ‘in the limelight’?
A: Invented in 1825, limelight was used in lighthouses and theatres by burning a cylinder of lime which produced a brilliant light. In the theatre, a performer ‘in the limelight’ was the centre of attention.


Q: Why is someone who is feeling great ‘on cloud nine’?
A: Types of clouds are numbered according to the altitudes they attain, with nine being the highest cloud. If someone is said to be on cloud nine, that person is floating well above worldly cares. 


Q: In golf, where did the term ‘Caddie’ come from?
A. When Mary Queen of Scots went to France as a young girl, Louis, King of France, learned that she loved the Scots game ‘golf’. He had the first course outside of Scotland built for her enjoyment. To make sure she was properly chaperoned (and guarded) while she played, Louis hired cadets from a military school to accompany her. Mary liked this a lot and when returned to Scotland (not a very good idea in the long run), she took the practice with her. In French, the word cadet is pronounced ‘ca-day’ and the Scots changed it into ‘caddie’.


Q: Why are many coin banks shaped like pigs?
A: Long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of a dense orange clay called ‘pygg’. When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as ‘pygg banks’. When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a container that resembled a pig. And it caught on.

Comments

And now you know… — 20 Comments

  1. I knew the first one, but not the others! It’s always nice to know where these things originated. Thanks!

  2. I’m going to impress the heck out of people at dinner tonight.

    Well, either that, or bore them… 🙂

  3. Lot’s of very interesting trivia.

    Do you know where the term “son of a gun” comes from? In the old days, when British naval ships came back to port, many of the sailors were forbidden to leave the ship for fear they’d just desert. So often the families of the sailors would come live aboard the ships. When their wives gave birth, it was often in a hammock strapped up between two cannons. The babies from these births were called “sons of a gun”.

  4. Wow, I can’t believe that I’ve played tennis all my life, and live in a family who’s addicted to such factoids, and I’d never heard the explanation of “Love” in Tennis ever before!

    Cool!

  5. Alison- You’re welcome!

    eia- Nah, just a bunch of folks that send me weird stuff 🙂

    Joey- LOL

    PH 🙂

    Keads- You’re welcome!

    CT- THanks

    WSF- LOL

    Tim- Have fun either way! 🙂

    Anon- You’re welcome!

    Andy- I’m a retired sailor “of course” I knew that…LOL

    LL/Danny- 🙂

    Weer’d/Ed- You’re welcome!

  6. Funny you posted this today. I was on the back patio with my 5 year old grandaughter clinking glasses and saying Salud, Chin Chin etc. and I had no idea why. Now I do! Thanks Guy