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Ever wonder why?
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- a family's heraldic symbol is called a coat of arms?
In medieval Europe men serving under a feudal lord in battle needed some way to identify one another. This was particularly true during the Crusades when many nations fought together. To provide this identification, shields were painted with brightly colored symbols called "arms" that identified the feudal lord. Men of lower rank wore badges showing this same symbol.
Knights usually had this symbol emblazoned on light cloth tunics or coats that they wore over their armor. This tunic became known as a "coat of arms," and later the term came to mean the heraldic symbol itself.
- rice is thrown at weddings?
Since early Roman times some grain-usually wheat-has been associated with the wedding ceremony. Wheat, a symbol of fertility, was carried in the bride's hand or worn by her in the form of a garland. As the bride left the church, grains of wheat were tossed at her, and young girls rushed to pick up the grains that had actually touched the bride. These were assumed to have the power to ensure the young girl a wedding of her own in the near future.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, wheat was no longer tossed at brides but was instead baked into small cakes that were then crumbled and tossed over the bride's head. Later the small cakes were replaced by one large one, which was cooked and eaten.
This change in ceremony left the wedding guests feeling deprived, since they had nothing to toss at the bride. Since at that time rice was cheap, clean, and white, it seemed a good substitute for the more expensive wheat cakes.
- it is customary for the father of the bride to pay for the wedding?
At one time a man literally purchased his wife from her family. As a gift to the husband, and to offset this expense, it became customary for the wife's family to present the husband with a dowry. The current practice of the bride's father paying for the wedding is an outgrowth of the idea behind the dowry; that is, something contributed by the bride's family to the groom.
- someone not doing his job is said to be not worth his salt?
At one time soldiers in ancient Rome were paid, in part, with a ration of salt called a salarium, from the Latin word sal meaning salt. If a soldier's performance was not up to standard, that soldier was said to be "not worth his salt."
Later, when the salt was replaced with a money allowance to buy the salt, the allowance itself was called a salarium. Eventually, salarium came to mean the wages themselves, and this led to our calling one's pay a salary.
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- when people spill salt they toss a few grains over their left shoulders?
Since salt purifies and preserves, it was considered holy in many cultures of the past. It was used in sacrifices and other religious rites, and it is still used today in Catholic baptismal rituals.
To upset a container of salt was believed to be an omen of approaching evil. To counteract the evil, the spiller of the salt had only one option - toss a few grains of the purifying salt into the face of the approaching evil.
But why over the left shoulder? Evil has always been associated with the left. For instance, the word sinister comes from the Latin word for left. It was believed that the impending evil due to the spilled salt would approach the spiller from behind and from the left. Hence the custom of tossing salt over the left shoulder.
- people say "It's raining cats and dogs"?
In seventeenth-century England, hundreds of cats and dogs ran wild through streets that had little or no storm drainage. During heavy downpours many of these wild
animals drowned, and their bodies would be seen floating in the torrents that raced through the streets. This gave the appearance that it had, literally "rained cats and dogs," and this led to the current expression.
- sailor suits are made the way they are?
The large bell-bottomed trousers were designed to make it easy for a sailor to roll up his pants when swabbing the deck and also to make it easier for him to slip out of his wet uniform if he finds himself in the water.
The cap is designed for easy storage and to serve as a flotation device. It is made of canvas and is almost airtight when soaking wet. When the cap is thoroughly wet and the brim turned down, it can be used to capture an air bubble and keep the sailor afloat.
Some say that the large flat collar that lies across the back of the uniform was to protect the main part of the uniform from the tar and powder that early sailors used to put on their pigtails.
- we nod our heads for "yes" and shake them for "no"?
The best explanation for this comes from Charles Darwin, who related these gestures to a baby's nursing habits. The forward head motion, or nod, is supposedly a breast-seeking pattern while shaking the head from side to side is a breast-rejecting motion.
That is, in the first instance, the baby is saying "yes" and in the second it is saying no. This is confirmed by the fact that a baby born deaf and blind will nod for "yes" and shake its head for "no."
- builders put a small tree on the top of a building as soon as its top frame is completed?
In ancient times the success of building projects was believed to depend more on the mood of the gods than on the builders' skill. To appease the gods and drive away evil spirits, the builders would attach plants thought to be inhabited by good spirits to the tops of their buildings as soon as the frames were completed. These plants, often decorated with flowers, ribbons, and strings of eggs, were supposed to lend their life-giving powers to the buildings and show that the buildings were as safe and solid as the ground in which the plants once grew.
Builders today still observe this superstition by placing a small tree on the top frame of a new building. The custom is called "topping out."
- we have leap years?
We say there are 365 days in the year and by this we mean that it takes the earth 365 days to make its annual trip around the sun_ Actually, though, it takes the earth 365 1/4 days to make this trip. This means that every year we gain one-fourth of a day and every four years we gain one full day. If we did nothing about this, our calendar would move backward one full day every four years relative to our seasons. To keep this from happening, we capture the extra day every four years and put it into our shortest month, February.
- breaking a mirror is said to lead to seven years of bad luck?
Centuries ago many believed that a person's image in a mirror was a reflection of that person's soul. That is why the legendary vampire, who had no soul, casts no reflection in a mirror. To the people who held this belief, breaking a mirror meant preventing a part of the soul from reuniting with its body. The absence of a portion of the soul, it was believed, would certainly lead to ill fortune. But why seven years? This goes back to a Roman belief that a person's health and fortune changed every seven years.
- cowboy hats are called "ten gallon" hats?
One account attributes this term to the fact that cowboys used their hats as water buckets to take water to their horses and to douse fires.
Another says the "gallon" comes from the Spanish word galon meaning braid. Apparently the custom of decorating the base of the crown of the hat with a leather strip containing ten braids, or galons, led to the hat being called a "ten-gallon hat."
- military men greet each other with a salute?
In the days of chivalry, a knight would greet a friend by raising his visor to expose his face. When visors went out of existence, men raised their hats for the same purpose. In the military this custom was eventually abbreviated to just touching the brim of the hat, leading to the present-day salute.
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- in the animal kingdom, the male is often prettier than the female?
Since, in the animal kingdom, it is often the female of the species that selects the mate, the male is the one that has to be attractive. Females tend to prefer males with the most striking coloration and features, so the males tend to be prettier- especially during the breeding season.
While it is necessary for the male to be striking for the above reason, it is also very dangerous, since predators are more likely to spot a brightly colored animal than a dull one. Thus the female's duller color provides her with some protection.
- we talk about making money "hand over fist"?
Picture the hands of a fisherman as he hauls in a large net full of fish. First one fist holds the rope while the other hand moves over it to get a new grip farther down.
Then that fist holds the rope while the first hand moves over it to get a new grip - and so on "hand over fist." Now picture the net full of money, and you will see how the above expression came about.
- a drink given to one just recovering from a drinking binge is called the "hair of the dog that bit you"?
Ancient cures often called for a second dose of the very thing that caused a problem in the first place. This theory of treatment was known as similia
similibus curantar, meaning "like cures like." In particular, if one was bitten by a dog, the remedy involved placing some of the dog's hair (often charred) on the wound. A similar treatment for a hangover required that the sufferer have another drink of the same liquor the next morning. The two ideas were combined and the second drink of liquor was called the "hair of the dog that bit you."
-we knock on wood for good luck?
The good luck associated with wood probably comes from pagan times when trees were worshiped and believed to contain the spirits of gods. For instance, since lightning so often strikes trees, the oak was believed by some ancient cultures to be the dwelling place of the god of lightning and thunder. To touch a tree or rap on it was a means of summoning the spirits within to come forth and provide the person doing the rapping with protection from evil.
- "toe the line" means to follow orders strictly?
The line in the expression refers to one drawn across the center of a boxing ring many years ago. At the beginning of each round the boxers were required to "toe the
line ," that is, touch the line with their toes. It a boxer was unable to comply with this rule within eight seconds he lost the bout.
- floral wreaths are placed on graves?
The placing of the wreath is what remains of an ancient belief that it was necessary to provide comforts for the dead and give them gifts so that their spirits would not
haunt the mourners. The circular arrangement represents a magic circle that is supposed to keep the sprit within its bounds.
- a bride always stands on the groom's left?
In the days when men often captured their brides from neighboring villages, a groom had to stay alert to the possibility of an attack by the bride's kinsmen or by jealous suitors. This made it necessary for the bridegroom to keep his right hand free during the ceremony to fend off any such attacks. This, of course, meant that the bride had to stand on his left.
- the English drive on the left and the Americans drive on the right?I
This custom, it seems, resulted from the difference in the way large horse-drawn, or oxen-drawn, wagons were once designed in America and in England. In America, such wagons were usually designed without a seat for the driver. The Conestoga wagon, or "prairie schooner," is an example of this type of wagon. The driver either walked along the left side of the wagon or rode on the animal in the left rear position. Being on the left was necessary in order for a right-handed driver to crack a whip over the animals' backs.
When driver and team encountered another driver and team coming from the opposite direction, the position of the two drivers made it natural for them to move their teams to the right. Moving to the right was also necessary in order for the drivers to keep an eye on the inside wheels to make sure they passed without colliding. This was so important that, in 1792, a law was passed in Pennsylvania requiring that wagons pass each other by moving to the right.
- zebras have stripes?
The stripes camouflage the zebra and help it hide from its enemies. They do this by breaking up the outline of the zebra when it moves through tall grass. Instead of
getting a clear view of the zebra, all a predator sees is a bunch of vertical lines. This is particularly true on a hot day when hazy heat waves are rising from the earth.
- the lights on police cars are now often blue instead of red?
The blue lights are to clearly differentiate police cars from other emergency vehicles, thereby correcting a long-standing problem.
It used to be that drivers who decided to flee from the police could later claim that they thought the red light behind them belonged to some other emergency vehicle. That meant that they could be charged only with failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. To avoid confusion and remove this as a possible alibi, the lights on police cars were changed to a different color.
Blue was chosen because of its excellent visibility and uniqueness.
- $ means dollars?
In the late eighteenth century the American colonies wanted their basic unit of currency to be as different as possible from the British pound. In 1782 Thomas Jefferson declared that the basic unit of currency would be the Spanish dollar or peso. The peso was already in wide use and, according to Jefferson, was "a known coin and most familiar to the minds of the people."
This coin had engraved on its obverse side two pillars representing the Pillars of Hercules at Gibraltar and was called the "pillar dollar." In writing it was symbolized by two vertical lines with an S over the top of them to indicate plural. That is,$, the sign we have adopted for the American dollar.
- auctioneers call out bids in that peculiar, singsong manner?
An auctioneer's rapid chant is designed to provide order to the bidding process and keep the bids coming in rapid succession. There is a great deal of uncertainty and hesitation among bidders at a large auction, and this chant acts as a steady cadence that urges the bidders to place their bids quickly. To control a very rapid bidding process auctioneers had to develop an almost musical chant as the only means of enunciating the bids fast enough to keep up the pace.
The chant is made to sound even more peculiar by the odd filler phrases auctioneers use to maintain the tempo of the auction. One such filler is Give me the bid. Little bit more, which comes out sounding like gimmedebid libbydemo. All of this may make the auctioneers sound funny, but it is essential to the smooth operation of the auction.
- tombstones are placed at grave sites?
In very early times tombstones were laid on top of graves to weigh down the soil and keep the spirit in the grave from getting out. Later, when the stone was erected
upright, it was used to mark the grave so that an unsuspecting stroller would not walk on the grave and become defiled by the spirit within, which at that time was believed to be impure.
- the army requires its recruits to have such short haircuts?
Short haircuts became a strict military tradition only after campaigns were fought in tropical climates where the danger of scalp infestation was greatly increased. This, coupled with a general advance in medicine at that time, led the army to require its field soldiers to cut their hair very close to the scalp. This was done to make the scalp easier to clean, to make scalp wounds easier to treat, and to make the hair less trouble to care for under battle conditions.
- there are eighteen holes on a golf course?
The number of holes on golf courses has varied greatly over the past several centuries from five or six to over twenty, but the number eighteen is due to the number of holes eventually decided upon in the mid-eighteenth century by the St. Andrews Society of Golfers in St. Andrews, Scotland (now known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews).
Originally St. Andrews offered twelve holes, which were not arranged so as to bring the golfers back to the clubhouse; on the contrary, they took them farther away. Also, because each tee was right next to a hole, the golfers actually had only eleven holes to play in one direction. At the end of eleven holes- since this left the players far from the clubhouse - it became customary for golfers to play the same eleven holes on the way back, for a total of twenty-two holes per round.
In 1764 St. Andrews decided that there wasn't enough distance between the first four holes and replaced them with just two holes, 400 or 500 yards apart. This meant that golfers now had only nine holes to play in each direction, for a total of eighteen holes in all. This number of holes seemed satisfactory, so it became the standard.
- the Chinese eat with chopsticks?
According to one account, a Chinese emperor once so feared a public uprising that he ordered his troops to collect all metal implements that might be used as weapons against him. This, of course, included the metal eating utensils then in use by the Chinese people. Deprived of their knives and forks, the Chinese people, it is said, learned to eat with narrow sticks they cut from bamboo trees, thus giving birth to chopsticks.
- ? is used to indicate a question?
At one time questions in Latin were indicated by following them with the word questio, the Latin word for question. This was obviously too cumbersome to work for very long, so it was soon abbreviated to "QO."
But these letters were frequently mistaken for part of the last word in the question, so it was next decided to write them one over the other as you see here.
- a sudden fright sometimes cures hiccups?
Hiccups are spasms of the muscles in the diaphragm that are controlled by the vagus nerves. The spasms occur when the nerves are irritated, as by a full stomach, carbonated water, etc. It is sometimes possible to stop the spasms by giving the vagus nerves other tasks to perform. Since a sudden fright sends a flurry of signals down the vagus nerves to slow the heartbeat and lower blood pressure, this distraction often causes the nerves to forget about the spasms and the hiccups to stop.