Origins Of Some Old Sayings.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Origins of some old “sayings” -

1. In the 1400s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.
Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.'

2. Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...
Ladies Forbidden'... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

3. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David,
Hearts - Charlemagne,
Clubs -Alexander the Great,
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

4. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on.

Hence the phrase......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'

5. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

6. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts...
So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.'
It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'

7. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service.
'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice.

8. In 1696, William III of England introduced a property tax that required those living in houses with more than six windows to pay a levy. In order to avoid the tax, house owners would brick up all windows except six. (The Window Tax lasted until 1851, and older houses with bricked-up windows are still a common sight in the U.K.) As the bricked-up windows prevented some rooms from receiving any sunlight, the tax was referred to as “daylight robbery”!

Now, there you have the origin of these phrases.
Interesting isn't it.

[Brew 5,410]

42 minutes ago, Michael Booth said:

8. In 1696, William III of England introduced a property tax that required those living in houses with more than six windows to pay a levy. In order to avoid the tax, house owners would brick up all windows except six. (The Window Tax lasted until 1851, and older houses with bricked-up windows are still a common sight in the U.K.) As the bricked-up windows prevented some rooms from receiving any sunlight, the tax was referred to as “daylight robbery”!

Now, there you have the origin of these phrases.

 I lived in one and yes it's still in existence and yes the window is still bricked up.. Quite why the door was also bricked up and creating a secret room no one knows

[Gem 1,430]

Made very interesting reading Michael some of the sayings I have have not come across before, they would make interesting questions in a pub quiz.

[MargieH 7,599]

10 hours ago, Brew said:

 I lived in one and yes it's still in existence and yes the window is still bricked up.. Quite why the door was also bricked up and creating a secret room no one knows

 

Our last house but one was built in 1851 (the year the window tax was scrapped) and it had a 'bricked up' window in one of the bedrooms  (There was another window in there). Why did they not just build it as a wall without a hole for a window, I wonder...   unless they'd got wind of the change in the law and hoped to open it afterwards?   They obviously didn't as it was still bricked up when we moved there in 1981.   We didn't bother opening it either!

[FLY2 10,108]

I notice some new builds in historical areas are being built with either reclaimed bricks, or the repro versions. Both to my mind look fantastic, although I prefer the originals. Anyway, there seems to be bricked up windows incorporated in many of them, so as to blend in with the really old ones in the villages. 

Since working for a short while at the Nottm Patent Brick Co over 50 years ago, I've had a fascination with bricks and various styles of bricklaying. I won't bore you any longer folks, but there used to be a brilliant brick museum in Somerset. 

[FLY2 10,108]

I visited Great Chalfield Manor last week. A National Trust property near Melksham, Wiltshire. In the great hall, there was an old wooden cupboard, which slits in the front and rear. It originally was filled with bits of food to be doled out to the poor and needy from around the estate. Hence the term 'Dole', as nowadays used to help the unemployed in the land. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

They were also features of monasteries and convents prior to Henry's antics.

[mercurydancer 1,104]

I think the rule of thumb comes from the old Roman measure of the last part of the thumb being equivalent to one inch. 

 

I could be very boring about the Roman use of the hand as something like an abacus, and was hugely important in the Roman army getting from one place to another, and some of the counting methods have been used until recent times.