I’ve heard the phrase ‘making money hand over fist’ many times. Unfortunately, it was not being used to describe me. If I had to guess where the phrase came from without doing any research, I would have probably said the phrase originated with games shows. I imagine a person in one of those money filled booths with money swirling all around them, quickly grabbing at it ‘hand over fist’ in a desperate effort to get all the money before the buzzer sounds and the off limit money floats slowly to the ground.
But I would have been wrong. The phrase ‘hand over fist’ originates from seaman who had to reach the rigging of sailboats by climbing ‘hand over hand’ up a thick rope. This same ‘hand over hand’ action was needed to haul in big catches. Being able to do this efficiently was a source of pride for many sailors. Around the beginning of the 19th century, the phrase morphed into ‘hand over fist’. ‘Hand over fist’ soon began to describe a person rising up the ropes in business rapidly and hauling in big catches (lotsa moolah).
The New Orleans Saints pulled off their very first Super Bowl win yesterday. I am not a football fan but I can appreciate wanting something so bad and finally getting it. Go Saints!
The game itself has a very interesting beginning. Football can be traced back to A.D 43, to a game called harpastum. Harpastum was a very violent and bloody game. Players (sometimes hundreds) in a free-for-all would attempted to kick, butt, or throw an air filled bladder into their opponents goal. The goal was sometimes more than a mile away. Eventually, boundaries and rules were added and the game became known as fut balle. There were many attempts to ban the game. Needless to say that never happened and fut ball developed into rugby which then became the American football we know today.
There’s nothing like going to a flea market and making a “discovery”. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you get really luck, and sometimes there’s no luck and all. That’s what flea markets are all about.
I love a good flea market as much as anybody but I’ve always wondered why they called it a flea market. I thought maybe a long time ago someone (at the then, just plain old market) was selling some items, maybe rugs, and they were infested with fleas. Someone hoping to purchase the rugs noticed the pest and as they scratched insanely yelled “what is this, a flea market!”. And as things have a way of sticking, it stuck.
Needless to say, I was wrong. Think you can come up with something better? Ok, I’ll give you five minutes to think about it. Go.
Done? Ok, let’s see how you did. Well, as it turns out, flea markets have absolutely nothing to do with fleas. Way back in the day, during dutch colonialism there used to be markets where people sold odds and ends just like today’s flea market. These markets took place in the Vallie (valley) which was located in downtown Manhattan. Vallie was soon abbreviated to Vlie which then started being pronounced flea. Yep, folks that’s how it happened. Some how we got a flea out of the Valley.
It’s that time of the year, when it’s almost unavoidable to catch some sort of virus. If you’ve found yourself under the weather I’m sure you’ve tried to recall the advice “feed a cold, starve a fever”. People have been following this bit of advice that is accredited to Greek physician Hippocrates, “the father of medicine”, for many centuries. Unfortunately there is no scientific evidence to support this.
There is a very old saying “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”. I for one, would never look a gift horse in the mouth. It just seems like a disgusting thing to do. If you’re wondering where this phrase (which basically means be grateful for what you get) came from, I can tell you that. That doesn’t disgust me at all.
You can tell a lot about a horse’s health by looking in it’s mouth. You can also calculate a horse’s age roughly by examining it’s teeth. So, when someone says don’t look a gift horse (a horse you get as a gift) in the mouth they are saying, be grateful if you get a gift and don’t try to find something wrong with it or try to find out how much it’s worth.
This phrase dates back pretty far. It first showed up in the writings of St. Jerome in 400 A.D., where it was written as- don’t look a given horse in the mouth.
Now I wish someone would have explained all of this to me when I was five. Hearing the phrase for the first time conjured up visions of a magical horse with the power to give gifts but to also do something really, really bad to you if you happened to look at his mouth. After all, since I had never seen a gift some one got from a gift horse, I assumed they had all made that fatal mistake.
I worried endlessly about what would happen if I ran into this gift giving horse and my eyes accidentally fell on it’s mouth, until I saw poltergeist…
Ever wonder where the phrase “neck of the woods” comes from? No worries, I’m going to tell you all about it. As it turns out, neck used to be the name given to a parcel of land. I’m not sure how much land made a neck as oppose to…let’s say a hand but I’m sure it’s more than a toe. Speaking of land, did you know the space between the grooves in a record is called the “land”?
Anyway, I digress, so a long, long time ago you might have heard someone say “I’ll sell you this neck of land for a pound of silver”, or “let’s build a fire in that neck of the woods”.
Today it’s used to describe any location, whether in the woods or in a crowded metropolis without a tree in sight. However, it is mainly reserved for talking about places that have some significance whether good or bad and when people boastfully talk about their locality.
Etymologic.com has the toughest online etymology game, according to them. It’s a simple multiple answer game consisting of 10 quesitons. I can’t vouch for them being the toughest because I haven’t played every etymology game out here but this one was tough. Tough but fun. A lot of fun, give it try.
