 The Water Cooler |
In the lordly manors of medieval England, one servant was assigned to clean the pots and pans, and this worthy's job title was a noun we still use, but differently: "Blackguard."
An "under-slave" was what the anciet Romans called a slave owned by a slave.
How do you account for the fact that fancy rice dishes seem native to Holland? Because rice dishes were native to the Dutch East Indies, where Netherlanders once practiced a little imperialism.
Anthropologists know of no human society whose children do not play hide and seek. Other animals play the game, too: Otters and young deer among them.
In Middle English, "fens" was a marsh, that's true, but also was short for "defense," whence the name of that sport called "fencing."
It's a matter of record that the Aztecs were extremely clean, and the Spanish conquistadors were extremely dirty, but the Spaniards won.
What did Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great have in common? Epileptic seizures and the personal conviction of each that he was divine.
Historians have much to say about William the Conqueror's Domesday Book - England's first official census of who owned what land and who lived on the same. William much wanted to know, so he could confiscate property and divvy it up among his friends. But he never got a chance to read the book. His horse stumbled and the iron pommel on his saddle tore him up - Fatally.
"Preposterous" comes from Latin meaning "before and after." Originally it was supposed to convey how ridiculous it is to put something first that ought to be last: such as a cart before a horse.
The ancient Romans thought a person's health changed every seven years. They also thought a mirror reflected a person's health, good or bad. It was a twist on this combination that gave us the superstitious notion that a broken mirror foretold seven years bad luck.
How long has the famous Vienna Boys' Choir been singing? Since 1498 - six years after Columbus first sailed west.
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More in the section:
Yesterday
No Place like "Home"
PRAVDA
Ukrainian Vignette
Read also previous issue' articles:
Bumper Stickers
Things Found Only in America
Devil in the Church
Generosity Begins at Home
Murphy's Other Laws
Some Interesting Facts
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